Donor Relationship Management

Still tracking your donors through five different versions of Excel spreadsheets, endless email chains and Post-It notes? Let’s be real: You need a better way to manage your individual donors. A donor management system will save you time and will help you be a smarter fundraiser. Not sure how this works? Here are the top…

Over the last couple weeks, I've listened to major gift officers on why they haven’t done what they said they were going to do with their caseloads. All of their reasons have to do with losing focus on what their primary jobs are: creating and building meaningful relationships with donors...

There are many ways to thank your donors for all their support in the previous year: send an email, write a note, make a phone call or even hold an event. One medium that can be quite effective in thanking your donors is video. Luckily, it’s never been easier or cheaper to produce a high-quality…

Imagine hosting an event where you don’t sell tickets or ask for donations—instead you simply give your top-tier prospects a night to remember. It’s an exclusive gathering, it sparks interest and, if done right, it’s a great way to revive your donor list. This type of donor-appreciation event is known as a cultivation event, an…

It’s January. For many of us, it is getting colder. The holidays have passed. There isn’t as much sunshine as there was a few months back, though we are getting more. While we’ve encountered the college football championship, and the Super Bowl is on the horizon, this can be a more subdued time of year. It still gets dark pretty early, and if you are like me, your energy level often sinks a bit as the sun sets. ...

Where should smart fundraisers be giving their attention in 2016 to capitalize on our economic growth? Technology changes and the economy changes. But people? Not so much. How will you be increasing fundraising revenue and strengthening donor relationships in 2016? Here are six things smart fundraisers will be doing...

The donor relationship equity built over the lifetime of an organization should not be taken lightly. Author Jeff Brooks encourages you to apply his proven strategies for raising more money and to avoid jarring tactics that jeopardize donor relationships. One of the passages we liked best in Brooks’s latest book, "A Fundraiser’s Guide to Irresistible…

Donors have a desire to provide real healing through giving. There is a desire to give another opportunity, to give themselves to others. That is really what is going on. Donors are not giving gifts. They are giving something of far greater value. They are giving relationship. You just need to find those real reasons in every donor relationship. Here's how that applies to you and your donors...

The word “middle” doesn’t always have the best connotation. From having “middle child syndrome” to being “middle of the road,” this word’s often associated with those things that are unfavorable or just plain innocuous. Another "middle" to add to this list is “middle donors.” These are the people who give your organization more than a…

Any of you who have read my blog posts over the last four years are well aware of my focus on one of the most important concepts in fundraising success: donor retention. Because of that focus, the research on the subject spans every nook and cranny possible for fresh insights and techniques. Needless to say,…