It pays to keep your donorsWe hear all the time from organizations about getting new donors. Yes, it’s important to bring new donors in, but it’s even more important to keep the donors you have. The 2017 edition of the Fundraising Effectiveness Project results was recently published. Here are some of the sobering findings from 10,829 non-profit organizations:
(Gains are gifts by new donors + recaptured lapsed donors + increases in gift amounts. Losses are decreases in gift amounts + lost gifts by lapsed new and lapsed repeat donors.) What does this tell us? Organizations do a poor job at keeping their donors, and as a result, they are continually chasing new donors, at great expense. It’s much more cost-effective to keep the donors you have than to continually chase new donors. The results vary by size of organization. Smaller organizations fare much poorly that larger organizations, which means resources dedicated to retaining donors make a difference. The FEP site has tools to help you analyze your data so you can make decisions on where to put your time and money in keeping your donors engaged. It’s not just about the bottom line of how much comes in. You need to know who your donors are. Don’t treat all your donors the same. Heap more love on your loyal donors and ask them to give more. But do make sure new donors know they are valued and welcome, and chances are some will give again and again. Julie Mikuska. · Moving…onI received an appeal from a large organization this week. Notwithstanding how awful the appeal was, what struck me first was the fact that they sent it to my former address. I haven’t lived there for almost 3 years. People move all the time. Many of your donors are among them. If you expect to maintain a relationship with them, you must make an effort to make sure you’re sending your appeal to their current address. There are ways to do this:
By not making an effort to check contact information, not only do you lose money on mailing costs, you also risk losing the donor. That’s why I’m moving on. Laura Mikuska · A flourishing gardenSpring – a time of renewal. We’re itching to get outside and work in the garden. We want to watch our plants grow and enjoy the fruits of our labour. Your organization can also flourish, much like your garden:
Enjoy a bountiful harvest by paying attention to your donors – their inspiration will feed you for a long time. Laura Mikuska · It’s a process, not an eventFundraising is a process, not an event. What does that mean for boards and staff? What it’s not:
What it is:
Where are you in the process? Julie Mikuska · Fundraisers don’t come with a RolodexThere’s a notion among some board members and senior staff at nonprofits that they can go out and hire the best darn fundraiser around, because “look what they did at X organization – they can bring their Rolodex with them and we can tap those donors!” They woo the fundraiser away from that organization, plunk him or her down in an office with the mandate to “go and raise money”. Then they pat themselves on the back and wait for the money to roll in. But, as they find out six months down the road, the torrent they were expecting is more like a trickle. Cue the moaning and wailing and berating. “Just open your phone book and ask those who gave to your last organization! They’re all rich and you know them already!” Not only is this attitude patently unfair to the fundraiser, it’s also unethical under the AFP Code of Ethical Principles and Standards, which all members are bound by in their practice. Even if the fundraiser isn’t a member of AFP, it’s still good to operate under the code. Standard No. 17i says: “Members are respectful of the fact that information about donors and prospective donors is the property of the organization for which it was gathered and is not to be taken to another organization.” So even if the fundraiser has a prior relationship with a prospective donor, they can’t disclose the particulars to the new organization. They will have to establish a new relationship, based on their new organization’s mission and engage the donor accordingly. Be aware, however, that the new organization’s mission or leadership may not be of interest to the donor anyway! If they funded puppies and kittens before, they may not want to fund the environment or health care. It all comes down to respect. Respect for your fundraiser. Respect for the prospective donor. And a mandate for your organization to create a culture of engagement that invites supporters to join you. Laura Mikuska · Where are your memories stored?Last month, our blog talked about the importance of databases for your fundraising program – keeping track of donors and your relationship with them. But there’s an even greater reason to have a robust database. It becomes your institutional memory. Think about it. If most of the knowledge about your organization is in the head of your long-time executive director, you have a big problem. It’s not only about the fact that only she knows certain facts and history – and that no one else can take advantage of that knowledge – but what happens when she retires, wins the lottery or goes to a different job? Your memory bank needs to be permanent and continuously populated with good data and notes on:
Over and above basic demographic data and donations, record:
Assign someone to be responsible for the database and to train others to input data. Make guidelines for everyone to follow in collecting and inputting information. Make sure everyone is aware of privacy rules. Anyone in the database can ask to see their record so keep it respectful. If you don’t have a good institutional memory, start now. Because if it walks out the door tomorrow, you’ll be starting from scratch. Julie Mikuska
· Fear and loathing: DatabasesWhat comes to mind when someone mentions “database”? Do your eyes glaze over? Do you curl into the foetal position? Scream in frustration? Think that someone is talking about a spreadsheet? You’re not alone. Many non-profit organizations have had little to no experience with a database, let alone success. A database seems to be shrouded in mystery, hidden behind a ubiquitous fog that seems impenetrable. When it comes to extracting the data to use in a mailout, or – horrors! – analyze your donor base, you muck through as best you can and say a little prayer to the gods of IT that your results are reliable. I’m here to say that it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s worth the investment to engage a professional who knows what they are doing to teach you good practices and principles of data management. Good data is the underpinning of a great fundraising program. Notice I said good data, because as the saying goes, garbage in, garbage out. You have to pay attention to what you enter into your database and how you do it. Make sure you have someone who is familiar with the principles of fundraising, so you can tailor your learning to maximize the use of your database. Some examples of what a data management program can help you accomplish:
Your data is as important as your staff. You can’t be effective if you don’t know who your donors are. Make the investment – the results will speak for themselves. Laura Mikuska
fear and loathing – (Hunter S. Thompson) A state inspired by the prospect of dealing with certain real-world systems and standards that are totally brain-damaged but ubiquitous – Intel 8086s,COBOL, EBCDIC, or any IBM machine except the Rios (also known as the RS/6000).
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