A kinder, back-to-basics approach to donor relations amounted to a 30 percent increase in contributions for D.C.’s Heritage Foundation.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

“I didn’t think of him as a donor, and that’s how our department operates,” he says. “Obviously, the money is important, but it’s not the only thing. It’s not just ‘join the President’s Club and come to the events.’ That’s what gets them in, but then we get to know these people ... as people.”

It takes only a few moments in the company of the easy-going Von Kannon to realize that he’s the foundation’s storyteller, the keeper of the potentially historic moments. To further underscore the importance of personal contact and nurturing relationships over the lifetime of a donor, he relates the case of the one-time $25 donor who moved quickly up the giving pyramid: