And We Quote
On Branding
“What we are telling our donors in terms of our brand promise, in terms of our communication strategy, in terms of the donor promise we make when we raise money from them — that’s got to make sense to the staff; it’s got to make sense to the beneficiary; it’s got to make sense to the communities we live in — to society in general. The donor promise, the community promise and the beneficiary promise — they have to be mutually understood and have to be mutually regarded as a win-win, and that becomes the single bottom line.”
On Communicating
“You’ve now got three populations of donors: the folks who are now in their 60s, the baby boomers and the younger generation. If you look at the way charities connect with our donors, we seem to prefer connection with largely one kind of donor base — not three kinds. So there’s a direct disconnect between the donors and the charities. Charities don’t seem to understand what the donors want and need.”
On the ‘Donor Journey’
“We broke the donor journey into four parts. First, what do we want to tell donors when they come onboard? The second part is the retention part of it: OK, the first six months to a year, how do we treat donors? Emphasize the reasons they came onboard, connect them with a child. And then you get into the growth part of it, where you are reforming donors for their engagement with us.
And then you start talking about resources beyond simply cash — that you have time and talent and influence to give — talking to donors about writing to their congressmen, talking to them about getting together with their family and friends, giving them the tools that are necessary to talk about child sponsorship. So it really was a process of starting to truly understand motivation for donors when they come onboard. Building a relationship-management program took work, and they responded fantastically.”
