Tag Archives: donor relationships

Determining Donor Communication Levels: How Intimate Are Your Donor Communications?

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By Derrick Feldmann, CEO of Achieve

in·ti·ma·cy Noun/ˈintəməsē/

1. Close familiarity or friendship; closeness.

It’s been said before that convincing a donor to give is hard, but convincing a donor to continue to give is twice as difficult. At the risk of sounding like Dr. Phil, the basis of sustaining all relationships is communication. This includes your relationships with your donors. If your nonprofit wants to keep the donor relationship, it’s time to ask if your organization is communicating with donors in the way they expect and need.

Consider it this way: Giving to others is a personal act.  When the giving is based on a relationship and passion for a cause, it could even be seen as an intimate act. In return, today’s donor expects a form of intimate communication with the organizations they support.  As a nonprofit organization, do you understand what level of “communication intimacy” your donors need to keep the relationship alive?

With the variety of communication options out there, as well as the variety of donor preferences, it can really make your head spin. Does your nonprofit decide to communicate with new donors via Twitter and established donors with direct mail? Deciding how to navigate communication with donors when there are so many generational and personal preferences at play is a real challenge, so what does a nonprofit organization do?

Let’s begin by addressing what not do when communicating with donors:

  1. Don’t assume one size fits all.  You have unique donors and constituents.  It will take a platform approach to understand the best way to interact with your audiences.
  2. Don’t assume email is the answer. Choosing one communication as a sole means to create and engage relationships with donors will ultimately be your only way of communicating with donors.
  3. Don’t assume development, communications, and marketing are in separate silos. This traditional mode of departmentalization does not work today. Influencing and encouraging interaction happens from all levels.  To the donor, you are not marketing or PR or development.  You are one organization working in sync together.

Now that we have covered what not to do, we need to map out our best methods of communication. A “Communication Intimacy Chart” is incredibly helpful in this situation because it helps you determine what levels of communication a donor expects, based on their needs. Take a look at the chart below:

After using the Communication Intimacy Chart to identify levels of communication, it’s time to create a communications plan.

  1. Step 1: Create a Communication Preferences Campaign.  Design a communication campaign that will allow your donors and constituents to define their personal preferences.  Spell out the variable ways of communication you have and how to sign up.  List the options selected from the Communication Intimacy Chart in a visual email that allows them to simply select the level of intimacy they want to have with you.
  2. Step 2: Brand Your Communication Platform.  Create a branded area within your website that allows donors and constituents to see how and where they can sign up for messaging with you.  When sending out thank you letters for gifts, create a small printed piece that directs the donor to create their personal preferences when it comes to giving, news and information, volunteerism, etc.
  3. Step 3: Define Communication Capabilities for Each Level. In each level of communication, give the reason for communicating with donors.  For instance, “Follow us on Twitter for the latest updates on our organization” gives a reason for donors to choose that level.

Creating personal and intimate communications with each donor is the best way to invest in your donor relations. A good, customized communications plan will help your donors understand why and how you plan to engage them. Lastly, be ready to pick up the phone, send that email, and post that Facebook message when you know that someone on the other end wants to hear from you.

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How to Build Trust with Donors

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by Andy Canada, Johnson Grossnickle and Associates

If you have read anything at all about the latest research on Millennial Donors, you probably know by now that 84% of Millennials are most likely to donate to organizations they trust – and 90% of them will stop donating to organizations that lose their trust.

But what do you do with that information?  How can you create trust? Isn’t that something that just happens?

Yes, trust is something that is built up over time.  But, there are actions you can take that will help you begin fostering trust with your constituents right away.

Present a comprehensive and compelling case – 85% of Millennials are motivated to give by a compelling mission or cause.  Vet your communications to ensure they present your mission clearly and ensure you have a clear case statement in all of your materials, but particularly on your website.

Communicate well – get staff and key volunteers on the same page.  Make sure they are able to communicate your organizations mission and cause clearly and concisely.

Create transparency – Millennial donors want to know where their money is going, how will it help, and what is the organization’s fiscal position.  Give specifics about how a donation helps, what it provides and how the organization uses funds.

Explain unrestricted funds – Millennials’ need for specificity in giving may make it difficult for organizations to solicit unrestricted funds.  But you can combat any hesitancy by detailing as clearly as possible what those funds are used for, even if it is mundane purposes like utilities and rent.  Millennials understand organizations need funds for these purposes, but want to be sure their donation’s not just going into some Presidential slush fund.

Building trust with your constituents is not just a strategy to help you woo future Millennial donors.   All donors want to feel confident in the organizations they’ve chosen to support.  Doing a little extra legwork now can ensure all of your donors feel more confident in their gifts to you.

Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match

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By Bobbi Bosch, Executive Director, Corporate and Foundation Relations at Indiana University Foundation

As a professional fundraiser, it’s my job to raise money. Daily. Weekly. Monthly. Annually. You get the picture. To some, asking for money is an overwhelming and frightening thought. To me, it’s fun and extremely rewarding. When done properly, fundraising is matchmaking. What you want is a long, happy and mutually satisfying relationship. Yet, too many times, fundraising conversations are more like bad blind dates where one side talks too much about themselves and then wonders why their calls go unreturned.

The normal model we use in fundraising is straightforward. Establish the scope and focus of your project, do your research to determine potential funders, and convince the donor to make an investment in your organization (well, it’s a bit more complicated than that, but for the sake of argument, go with me here). But before you head out the door with talking points that tell your potential donor how great your organization/program/project is, I suggest you stop. Take a deep breath, and … throw your list of talking points away. Change your thinking, and approach potential funders with a list of “question points.”

Below are a few of my favorites:

  1. What is the impact the donor wants to make with their giving?
  2. What previous gifts have been the most successful in their mind? Why?
  3. Which of their program areas do they feel are strongest? Are there any they wish were stronger?
  4. Are there things in the community that they would like to accomplish, but have not yet found the right partner?
  5. What organizations do they admire?

What organizations that they already work with provide the best stewardship? What about that particular organization’s efforts are most appealing?

These questions offer you insight into the prospective funder’s goals, perceptions and preferences. Is your organization/program truly a good fit philosophically with what the donor wants to achieve? Is there potential for a long-term relationship?

The questions above aren’t just for your courting/cultivation phase, either. It makes great sense to periodically check in with your donors – no matter how well you think you know them and they know you. A donor recently told me that for all the hardship that the recent economic downturn brought to his organization, he appreciated how the economy made his organization focus — on their strategy and their priorities. They had to cut funding to a lot of good organizations, simply because there was no longer strategic alignment. He noted that in many cases, this came as a “surprise” to those organizations, even though the funder had tried diligently to be transparent.

We all want to find long-term, committed donors. And while lasting relationships take time, I believe we set the tone for the relationship from the very beginning.   In order to succeed, we need to stop thinking of our donors merely as funders and start thinking of them as true partners.

Major Donor Communication

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By Joanna Nixon, Achieve Consultant

Staying in touch with a donor after a gift has been made is equally as important as soliciting the gift. Keeping donors informed and engaged is a critical component to the donor cultivation process, especially major donors. Whether you are communicating in-person as part of an update meeting or sending a written correspondence, touching base on an ongoing basis with your significant financial supporters is a must. Below is a template that can be used to frame your messaging to major donors. Be careful not to overwhelm with too much information and focus on those areas that you think would appeal to the individual supporter. A one page update is more than sufficient. While donors will likely receive your annual report and maybe an e-newsletter, a communication specifically targeted at the major donor from the Executive Director can go a long way.