Donor Relationship Management

When it comes to fundraising, arts organizations can entice donors with vibrant images and bold designs. But when times are tough, and donors must choose their causes more carefully, those visual appeals often aren’t compelling enough to win out over the gut-wrenching images of starving children and war-torn villages on an international-aid organization’s direct-mail pieces.

To overcome the innate challenges involved in raising funds for the arts, the development staff at NYC’s Lincoln Center “leaves no stone unturned,” according to Tamar Podell, vice president of planning and development at the venerable institution.

We learn more when we listen than when we talk. Sounds simple, and it’s the basic tenet of donor relationships today. In fundraising, we agonize over the wording of “the ask,” make sure we’re selecting the right people to solicit. We want to be sure event donors aren’t invited to the gala at the same time the fall appeal is to hit mailboxes. How do we motivate a donor to give to a cause/program that’s so very dear to the “XYZ Foundation?” How can we communicate the need - the urgency? All important issues. But not the most important. What’s left?

Generation Y is one of the first population segments that knows the true meaning of instant gratification, according to Kelly Mahoney, president of marketing agency Newport Creative Communications. A three-week fulfillment window as a standard response is not going to help you cultivate a long-term relationship, she explains. Here, Mahoney discusses what Generation Y’ers mean for fundraising.

Nonprofits with missions based on religious foundations face special challenges, and the fact that they answer to the Higher Power can work both for an against them.

Fostering philanthropy within any specific donor demographic has its challenges — but perhaps none more so than in the Asian community. Cultural and historical differences between Asian countries and the United States are stark and, according to Michelle Tong, donor relations director for the Asian American Federation of New York, they explain why it’s innately difficult to get its members to give. Asian immigrants just don’t understand the philanthropic nature of this country, she explains. And, in tandem, development personnel used to courting largely American donors don’t understand the disconnect. Here, Tong discusses these issues.

Sending a timely, relevant thank-you letter in return for a gift is the prudent and polite thing to do — both in our private lives and in fundraising. It’s all about preserving a relationship, communicating appropriately, and establishing and maintaining a personal style.

Ms. Manners taught us the rules of etiquette when writing personal thank-you notes, but what about a donor program with thousands of people to thank? What are the rules? And who gets to write them?

Organization: International Women’s Health Coalition, New York City, founded in 1984 by Joan Dunlop and Adrienne Germain to generate health and population policies, programs and funding that promote and protect the rights and health of girls and women worldwide. 

This might turn out to be a rant. But you see, I’m getting a lot of fundraising appeals I can’t read because the type is too small, the paragraphs are too long, and the copy is too intensive and technical.

I’m eligible to critique this mail, not because I’ve been in the business for 42 years but because I’m now the target audience.

As the modeling-versus-RFM debate goes on, proponents of each donor-management approach continue to champion their preferred method. Weighing in recently on the Recency-Frequency-Monetary Analysis side was Arthur Middleton Hughes, vice president of KnowledgeBase Marketing. In his session at the 2005 Annual Washington Nonprofit Conference earlier this month, Hughes was exuberant in his support, calling RFM “the most powerful segmentation method for predicting response,” adding that it’s “better than any segmentation model.” But despite his accolades -- some of which might be considered fightin’ words in modeling country -- Hughes also warned that RFM isn’t something organizations should use all the time. Warning session attendees

You might be thinking that the new year will just bring more of the usual fundraising grind, slogging forward step by step, scratching for every dollar.Well, I have good news: It doesn’t have to be that way.

In fact, the smartest fundraisers are paying attention to what promises to be next in breakthrough fundraising trends, strategies and tactics that will revolutionize the way funds are raised in the years ahead. So get on board if you want to ride the coming surge of fundraising effectiveness.