Donor Relationship Management

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."...

"There is donor fatigue," one of the community’s top philanthropists shared in a recent feasibility study interview. Donor fatigue is a term often used. Is it real? It means a donor feels tired, worn out by requests from organizations. Are there causes? Yes, usually poor fundraising that is not donor focused...

In part one of this article, we looked at how nonprofit marketing, fundraising and sales are synonymous. Sadly, they too often have been siloed—resulting in inconsistent messaging, confused donors and money left on the table. Let’s get practical. It’s been crystal clear since the explosion of media and messaging post digital revolution that if you still are thinking outbound marketing, you’re a dinosaur...

People are far more distracted than they were a decade ago, which means that even the most experienced fundraiser must continually evolve—something the industry has found difficult at times—and leverage new outlets to increase donations. Is it possible that our inability to adapt or unwillingness to change is a primary reason for our industry’s declining performance?...

I eagerly read every new article and exhibit from the Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration. However, the article, “9 Tips for Effective Emails,” made me pause. Oh, yes, I agreed with the author, Nick Allen, on most of the points. Yet there were a couple of tips I found missed the mark, and one in particular I thought was outright bad advice...

Getting to an organization that knows its donors and customizes communications accordingly is not easy. We often lack one centralized database that acts as the truth. We don’t think we have time to make donor calls to thank people when revenue isn’t attached. Our budgets are so small that we transcend lean and mean and…