Donor Relationship Management

Your organization has no cute kids, puppies or people that you regularly serve. But you keep hearing that you’re supposed to share those “mission moments” about real people to engage your community. How does sharing powerful stories work for you?...

Who are your highest value donors? A major gift officer would likely answer the question with a list of the top 10 donors from the past year or current top prospects. A direct marketer might quote the top RFM segments or pluck a group with the largest previous contribution...

As a strategic planning practitioner, I love the process and the outcomes, but I am saddened when a well-conceived plan just sits on the shelf. From a fundraising perspective, a strategic planning process that engages key constituencies and great minds is a wonderful cultivation opportunity, and the resulting plan should give confidence to donors who might invest in making the plans a reality...

Unconscious bias affects our ability to raise funds for our missions. But their effect doesn’t always have to be negative. Understanding bias allows us to navigate around it, sometimes mitigating its effect, so that it doesn’t impact our bottom lines...

Storytelling has been "hot" for some time now and for good reason. Our human brains are wired for storytelling. We’re automatically open and receptive. So, you’d be foolish not to use this to your advantage when it comes to your nonprofit marketing and fundraising—especially if your goal is to raise money. Storytelling is not difficult once you get the knack of it...

I’ve been a monthly donor for many years. Two years ago, I did a little experiment: I joined 20 organizations to see what they would do (10 small and 10 large organizations). I wanted to experience their “thank you” process, their subsequent communication stream, tax letters, emails, lapsed recapture (if any) and upgrade process...

Since 2008, new donor retention rates are down 22 percent and repeat donor retention rates are down 11 percent. And let’s face it, 2008 was not a banner year for fundraising (or really anything in the economy, if you weren’t a character in “The Big Short”). So, we are either getting worse at retaining people, or lower retention is happening to us because of systemic changes...

How often is “enough” for a prospective donor to see you? Often, organizations have stewardship and cultivation plans that may outline five, 10 or even more “touches” for donors...

Today, we’re going to look at a great tool for building those important relationships with top prospects over time. And we all know that is what will result in the big gift. You know how important it is to put a plan in place to build relationships, right? It’s super de-duper important if you want to secure major gifts. I’m talking about “moves management...

Not surprisingly, most development professionals have a long "To-Do" list. It can feel overwhelming to keep up with data-entry, make donor phone calls, draft mailings and reports and more. Being able to cross things off our list can feel great...