Are you treating your donors like gumballs?
You are if you consume them in five minutes, then never think about them again.
Alas, too often nonprofits treat their donors exactly like a gumball dispensed from a machine.
Chew it up. Spit it out. Done.
Transaction over.
Want your donors to sustain you? Then you can’t treat them this way!
Whatever size gift they make, they’re unlikely to make it again — let alone give more — unless
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I’m excited to share three easy tips with you, and the results are measurable. Do these things and you’ll be able to tell if they impact your bottom line!
I was inspired to share these ideas with you based on a 2019 study by NextAfter and Kindful looking at how organizations are cultivating donors via email. They found plenty of data-driven ideas that can improve donor retention and boost online fundraising revenue — by as much as 27%!
Think about how much an increase like that could mean for your organization!
“Make way…” for these ridiculously easy, revenue-boosting strategies!
If you raised $100,000 last year, you could raise $127,000 – or more – this year.
And that’s without having to apply for a new grant, hold a new fundraising event or even ask for a new major gift or two to reap these rewards.
All you must do is simply pay a little more attention to your follow-through communication with donors.
Did you know most of the top reasons donors give for not renewing their giving have to do with how you do/don’t communicate with them after they make a donation?– or fail to personally, meaningfully and promptly communicate –
Meaningful, regular donor communication can hugely impact your bottom line.
To make a demonstrable difference in donor behavior, however, your communication strategy must tick more than one box. It must be prompt, personal and relevant to what your donor cares about and how they want to hear from you. Don’t just guess what your donors might like from you. Ask them! In fact, surveys, social media queries, online quizzes, solicitations for comments and feedback are all wonderful ways to communicate digitally in a manner that personally engages your supporters.
Never forget: The best fundraising is personal.
So… what are you waiting for?
“The more that you know, the less they’ll say ‘No!’“
Such is the advice given by Jay Love, Founder of Bloomerang and a seasoned board member and major donor, some years ago at an online conference where we both presented major gifts master classes. His was on the topic of major gifts development from the donor’s perspective.
Do you think about your donor’s perspective before you ask for a major gift?
Here’s what I learned from Jay:
The more you know:
- what floats your donor’s boat,,,
- what other things compete for your donor’s attention (not just causes, but also career and family)…
- how your donor prefers to communicate…
- how your donor prefers to be wooed…
- how your donor prefers to be recognized…
… the more likely you’ll get a “Yes.”
This advice is SO important I want to dig deeper into ways you can get inside your donor’s head and build the type of relationship that will be a win/win. When your donor gets what they want and need, you get what you want and need!
If you can’t show your major donor prospect you really know them, how can they trust you’ll be a good steward of their passionate philanthropic investment?
We all want to be known before we enter into a major engagement.
Which brings us to the crux of successful major donor development. Not surprisingly, it begins and ends with the same thing.
Can you guess what that might be?
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This Thursday folks in the United States will celebrate what I consider to be the social benefit sector holiday of the year:
So it’s time for my annual Thanks(for)Giving post!
Just think about what ‘Thanksgiving’ means. Literally, it’s a day for giving thanks for blessings.
Who, and what, do you count among yours?
I know when we go around the table at my family Thanksgiving, saying what we’re grateful for this year, most folks respond with a people-based answer. Sure, they’re happy about the feast in front of them. But they’re most grateful for caring friends… loving family…. and for being together sharing the warmth of good company.
BOO!
Halloween is creeping up on us, so I’ve got some really scary stuff for you!
Don’t get too spooked. There are also a few treats.
In fact, you’ll get eight delicious goodies — in the form of “to-do’s.”
But first… the bad news.
No bones about it, you’re frightening folks away if you’re committing any of these 8 boo-boo’s!
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I’m a huge fan of the Greater Good Science Center at U.C. Berkeley, and often apply their research to nonprofit fundraising and marketing. A recent article really struck me: How to Find Your Purpose in Life.
Over my 30 years of practice as an in-house development professional, the fundamental thing I learned is this:
You serve your donors every bit as much as they serve your organization’s mission.
Please allow that to sink in.
You have a mission. A purpose. Donors can help you get there.
Your donors are looking for purpose. You can help them find it.
It’s a symbiotic relationship. And you have a role in fostering that relationship. What is that role?
Your job is to facilitate your donor’s philanthropic journey. Their journey to discover their purpose.
So what’s this really all about?
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Imagine what it would mean to your mission if you doubled the lifetime value of all of your current supporters.
Do you know even know what percentage of donors you’re retaining?
According to Jay Love, founder of Bloomerang, less than 45% of fundraising offices know this answer!
So, you’re not alone. But you can do better.
Because knowing your retention rate enables you to move it to something better.
And I’m going to guess, if you’re like the majority of nonprofits, you probably need to improve your donor retention.
At least if you want to grow.
Or maybe even just survive.
Just a small change in retention, up or down, can mean thousands of dollars.
It’s your choice whether they’re your gain, or your loss.
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The Unfair Exchange Bernadette Jiwa, The Story of Telling.
That will be eight dollars,’ the woman, who is carefully weighing and wrapping two serves of freshly made fettuccine for us to take home, says.
As my husband is about to hand her the cash, she takes another handful of the pasta from behind the glass and adds it to our package.
She doesn’t announce that she’s giving us twenty per cent extra for free.
She doesn’t even invite us to notice the gesture at all.
It’s enough for her that she knows she has added value.We think of value as a hard metric—the anticipated fair exchange of this for that.
But value can be a surprising, generous, unfair exchange.
Something that is given because we can, not because we must.
Ah… value.
Wow, wow, WOW!
This is what all fundraising, fundamentally, is about.
Yet one side of the exchange is a hard metric: The donor’s cold, hard cash.
While the other side of the exchange is something decidedly less tangible: Freely given gratitude from you and your organization.
Or at least that’s how it should work.
What does your donor love and loyalty plan look like?
Do you even have such a plan?
If the only reason you acknowledge donations is because you feel you ‘must,’ it’s likely your donors aren’t walking away from the encounter feeling much more than matter-of-fact. The transactional receipts many organizations send out are registered by the donors as “Ho, hum. Guess I’ll go file this with my tax receipts.”
This kind of exchange is fair, sure.
But it’s not generous.
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By now you undoubtedly know you’re losing too many first-time donors.
In fact, the most recent Fundraising Effectiveness Project report shows you’re losing an average of 68% of these folks!
Today I want to talk about a subset of new donors who don’t renew. They’re called “third party donors,” and they come to you through a variety of portals:
The good folks at Classy know most nonprofits are not doing a good job cultivating donors who come to them through third parties, so they’ve prepared The Guide to Courting Third Party Donors. You can download it for free (40 pages), but let me give you the highlights – along with some of my own thoughts.
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Giving is not always its own reward. Sometimes you have to help it along. I just read an article by Scott Monty, who has a pithy take on the digital world. His newsletter is not nonprofit specific, however it is certainly relevant to anyone working in the social benefit sector. In this particular article he…
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