Six Qualities of Passionate Donors

Six Qualities of Passionate Donors

March 14, 2006

By Abny Santicola, associate editor, FundRaising Success

Passion motivates individuals to give major gifts to an organization or institution. That according to Chuck Longfield, chief executive and founder of Cambridge, Mass.-based direct-response fundraising firm Target Analysis Group, in a session during last month's DMA Nonprofit Federation 2006 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.

Longfield said passionate donors:

1. Give more often, at higher dollar amounts and for longer periods of time.

2. Donate more to your organization than to other organizations.

3. Are interested in everything your organization does. They donate; attend events; purchase from your catalog; volunteer; join committees; visit your Web site; read your publications; and tell you their opinions, good and bad.

4. Don't want you to lose touch with them.

5. Aren't looking for reasons to stop giving.

6. Are interested in sharing information about themselves.

Maintaining a comprehensive donor database will help an organization identify those donors who are passionate, and capitalize on that passion to move them up the giving ladder.

Chuck Longfield can be reached via http://www.targetanalysis.com