The New Formula: R + M = IR2

• Feedback and tracking

Last but not least, your organization needs to realize that understanding the attitudes of your constituents and, perhaps more importantly, how those attitudes affect behavior, giving and engagement is not a "project." Relationship marketing and fundraising is a way of doing business. It is a strategy that is focused on building and securing the strongest and longest-running relationships possible with your various constituent groups. It drives change within the organization — processes, strategies, messaging, channel usage and more. Therefore, it takes more than a financial report to measure the success of relationship marketing. Your organization needs to be in touch with your constituents to understand how they feel about your brand and whether the changes you make to drive greater commitment are working. In the commercial world, continuous feedback loops are talked about in the break rooms because they are simply a part of running the business. Nonprofits need to realize that every engagement with a constituent is an opportunity to listen to how he or she feels and get a report card on how things are going.