Donor Relationship Management

You’ve probably seen the stats. According to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project, retention across the U.S. is 46 percent—and about half that for new donors! You work too hard to have more than half your donors disappear, never to be heard from again...

Everyone loves getting free swag, particularly if it is unique and useful. Fundraisers are an essential way for organizations to raise money for their cause, and swag bags are critical to getting donors to the table and interested in your event...

There’s no substitute for the basics, as boring and tedious as they may be. This is true with anything in life, and major gifts development is no exception. The basics are boring, but they’re fundamental to your success...

Most of us can identify with this experience: Agreeing to help out with a project or an organization, ending up more involved than we intended and vowing to say “no” to future requests. And yet, here I am, year after year, running tickets for Hot Times, Holy Enchilada and the other games of chance. The truth is, I fell prey to a technique we subscribe to at Turnkey to help our clients raise more money for their various missions...

This week was all about the fundraising ladies. Andrea Kihlstedt shares a story of a gift solicitation gone wrong and lessons learned from it; Marilyn Donnellan gives us five guidelines for a simplified nonprofit strategic planning process; and Tammy Zonker discusses the five donor love languages...

When it comes to a nonprofit organization’s mission, relationships are important. It is imperative for nonprofits to use everything at their disposal to reach their mission’s goals. It’s a known fact that technology is constantly evolving. It’s easy to think of technology and relationships as two separate entities, but what if we melded the two together to achieve “the bigger picture”?…

Fundraising is all about relationships: The depth and quality of relationships between donors and the institution—the organization’s staff. It is also all about numbers. You must have a certain number of donors at specific levels to meet your goal (unless you have one donor driving the project, but then you will most likely eventually have to worry about sustainability)…

Dialogue with your donors, clients or prospects begins with good data; we all know that one tenet of direct mail—garbage in and out. When we go to the mailbox, a treasure trove of information on fun, as well as vital information, awaits us. Some good, some bad and at most, lame or even useless...

There may be as many ways to segment and customize your file as there are ways to leave your lover, but the evidence mounts that the level of commitment a donor has for your organization may be the most important...

Have you ever wondered what the ideal number of people is to solicit a gift? Is a one-on-one meeting best? Perhaps you should bring two people—your president and campaign chair? Or perhaps three people would be even better—president, campaign chair and board member. Sounds reasonable, right? Get a power team to solicit a power gift! But here’s a story that will set you straight...