Donor Relationship Management

The fun thing about working in major gifts is that you have an opportunity to loosen money’s hold on people by encouraging them to give it away. When people give away their money, they short-circuit its negative influence. As a major-gift fundraiser, you perform a powerful and unique service to donors...

Collecting stories consistently is ranked as the No. 1 storytelling challenge that fundraisers face in the surveys and research that I conduct. This fact was clear in the 2015 research project I did with Network For Good, called The State of Storytelling. Perhaps you can relate to this challenge, too. In my own experience, there…

Do you recognize this donor? She’s been on your house file for three-and-a-half years now. You know exactly how old she is, where she lives and the channel she was recruited on. And, of course, you know how she gives and how much. But do you know why she gives?...

If there is one thing we can expect in fundraising, it’s the unexpected. We’re sure it’s a winner, but the donors don’t respond to an e-appeal or direct mail. The worst drought in history ends on the night of the gala. The website goes down right as we announce a big fundraising campaign...

The campaign was stalled, and a friend called for advice. A large national consulting firm had developed a campaign plan and early counsel. Soon after its engagement ended, the campaign seemed to stall...

We’ve all been there. The absolute perfect potential investor is now within our reach. We’ve been practicing Principle 5 of The Eight Principles, “Work From the Inside Out,” with religious fervor. And now it’s paying off. There’s just one hurdle. It seems this “perfect” donor to our cause—serious interest, serious values-match and serious resources—has a keeper. That keeper sees this donor as proprietary. That is—his property...

A recent study revealed that donors support charitable causes for "very personal reasons." In other words, giving is about them (the donors and what motivates them) and is far less about you and your nonprofit organization. This is not surprising news to those of us who practice donor-centered fundraising. Nevertheless, it’s nice to have additional research…

Good use of data can help you create messages for your donors that are more relevant, interesting—and effective. But data can betray you in embarrassing ways. Like it does in this letter from an organization I support. (I'm hiding its identity because I don't want it to be embarrassed in front of its peers.) Here's…

I’ve been stewing for a while about a certain kind of solicitation I’ve seen. I’ve hesitated to write about it, but I get more annoyed the more I think about the damage this thing can do. Want some examples? This is an email I got last December (good organization, bad solicitation). And this tactic made…

There’s an old joke about a minister who preaches the same sermon three weeks in a row. When confronted about it, he replies, "When you start doing what this sermon teaches, I’ll move on to another topic."...