Fundraising is a Year-Round Commitment. Your Donors Can Tell When It’s Not.
Ready for the harsh truth to begin the year?
You have to fundraise all year long.
Not just the last couple of months of the year.
As I’ve shared before, fundraising is all about relationship building. Relationships require trust. And this is not just an ask and thank exercise.
It involves MULTIPLE thank yous. It involves MULTIPLE touch points.
Donor stewardship requires strategy. It requires a plan.
And when done right, donor stewardship will lead to increased donor retention (yay), increased lifetime value of your donors (double yay!), make your donors feel good (WOO!), and even save you money versus constantly struggling to find new prospects (yes!).
When it is absent, what happens?
Donors forget about your organization. They don’t feel appreciated and therefore don’t care to renew. They are not willing to serve as ambassadors and introduce you to new prospects. They might give again, but are much less likely to increase their giving. Your team is constantly seeking out new donors to give (and it’s a crowded space out there, so your team will get increasingly frustrated with the work not leading to results).
So what does smart donor stewardship look like?
It starts with segmentation.
Your donors are not all the same. In fact, each donor is unique. But – and this is a big but – to help save the precious time of your development team, donors should be grouped into segments with similar qualities.
Consider how do donors who give at different giving levels expect to be treated?
What about donors who give one-time versus 10 years? And your donor who is a baby boomer versus those Gen Z donors? Who is more likely to answer the call vs text?
Last, remember that different giving vehicles are not just mechanics; they tell you something about the donor. The DAF donor is different from the monthly donor.
What to do next? Use technology to support your outreach.
I’m hearing that Gen Z fundraisers (and perhaps all age groups, even) are concerned that AI is going to take their jobs (in fact, a recent Fortune article declared 1 in 5 Gen Z individuals is “very concerned” that AI will be a major threat to their job).
This is a real concern. But listen – at this point in time, donors (regardless if they are a major donor or a first-time $100 giver) do not want a robot reaching out to them. They want a person.
And that is where the development department is so needed (along with the CEO and the Board).
The development department needs to reach out ALL. YEAR. LONG.
But, AI can be used properly when your team is prepared and allowed to try new things:
Consider how your different segments of donors and different solicitors can reach out to groups through personalized outreach templates, scripts and conversation starters
Think about how much work your marketing team put into creating the annual report. Was this just a one-time project or can you find a way to have AI break it into snippets to highlight different areas of interest to your major donors?