Donor Relationship Management

How Good Receipting Leads to Better Retention
March 24, 2016 at 8:00 am

I had an unexpected reconnection a few weeks ago with Rev. Tony Marciano, executive director of Charlotte Rescue Mission, Charlotte, N.C. The last time we talked was when Tony asked me for some suggestions on his receipting program. Since about seven years had passed, I decided to ask Tony how things were going. And what he told me about receipting and retention is worth sharing...

3 Questions All Fundraisers Should Be Able to Answer
March 23, 2016 at 10:58 am

"How many of our first-time donors give again?" The Fundraising Effectiveness Project has been studying donor retention rates for years. Its "2016 Fundraising Effectiveness Survey" found that just 19 percent of first-time donors will give again. That stat makes me want to gnash my teeth and pull at my hair. After all the hard work…

There’s Something Important You Need to Do Before You Can Raise More Money
March 23, 2016 at 10:51 am

Do you want to acquire more new donors? Do you want to retain more existing donors? Do you want to upgrade the support from more of your donors? Do you want to get more planned gift commitments? To achieve any of those goals, there’s something essential you must first do. You need to build trust.…

Always Have a Development Backup Plan
March 23, 2016 at 10:05 am

When I embarked on my own in fundraising consulting I had only one client that I served as a sole practitioner. I soon realized that I was missing the synergy of a team. Collaboration is important. We all have different skills. So, as we developed our team, we also looked for redundancy. We didn’t want just one person with a unique set of skills. We wanted backup...

Big Data, Big Opportunities: 5 Key Lessons From the Commercial Sector
March 22, 2016 at 10:52 am

For the more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the U.S., data—big and small—has never been more important in terms of its potential impact on fundraising. The opportunity to further understand, keep and grow donor relationships is huge. But for many of these organizations, there’s a catch—as hopes have risen, so have confusion and concern about using technology to make it happen without draining budgets and sacrificing other efforts...

Stop and Get Close to the Pain
March 21, 2016 at 10:37 am

Stop for a moment, go to a quiet place and focus on the problem your organization is dealing with. It could be homelessness, drug addiction, abuse of people or animals, the effects of humankind on the environment—whatever it is, focus on it...

4 Surprising Donor Retention Statistics
March 21, 2016 at 10:12 am

Donor retention is a hot topic in the fundraising world. And it should be because retaining donors year-to-year makes your job a whole lot easier. If you are unfamiliar with this topic, then here’s a quick brief. What is donor retention? Donor retention refers to the number or percentage of donors that continue to give…

How to Run Your Nonprofit Like a Business, Part 2
March 17, 2016 at 11:00 am

In last week’s article, I stated, “A nonprofit is not a business. But if you don’t run it like a business, you will go out of business.” A nonprofit organization differs from commercial ventures in many ways, but some important similarities exist...

Improving Donor Experience Across National, Affiliate Offices
March 16, 2016 at 11:10 am

Every nonprofit organization has a mission that drives and defines the good work it accomplishes on a daily basis. Communicating that mission's message in a consistent way is the charge of every individual at that nonprofit. Whether coming from the national office or one of its local affiliates, there should be little variation in that…

Fundraising Lessons From Yogi Berra
March 15, 2016 at 11:49 am

You don’t have to be a baseball fan to love Yogi Berra. Originator of many popular "Yogisms," including “When you come to a fork in the road, take it” and "It's déjà vu all over again,” Berra was known as much for his malapropisms as his MLB career. One of my newsletter subscribers reminded me of my favorite "Yogism" just the other day. Her organization has considered enrolling in a big-ticket, sustainable fundraising coaching program...