We all know the old adage about assumptions—to assume is to make “something” out of you and me. The problem is, when we are deep into our day-to-day of having to raise (what often seems like insurmountable) funds to operate our nonprofits for the year or this quarter, we don’t think about the assumptions we’re using as the base of our fundraising strategies.
So, the first question we need to ask ourselves is “What donor assumptions are our strategies based on?” These assumptions could be in relation to who our donors are, how they interact with us, what they want from us, how to retain them, what role our organization plays in their lives and so on. We may think we know: what donors feels about our branding and communications and how they interact with our social posts, how often we cross their minds, where we fit in the list of charities they support, and what their journey is with us.
Most organizations are making a lot of assumptions and many are basing strategies on them. Sometimes, assumptions are based on quantitative data that is missing the underlying reasoning, the “why” that turns unconfirmed belief into verified fact. Many are based on predecessors—the “we've always done it this way” assumptions.
Alumni fundraising example
Here’s an example from work we did with the UBC varsity sport program. The fundraising team was frustrated that the men’s alumni were much more likely than the women’s to donate back to their varsity program, especially in monthly donations. The assumption was that female alum would respond to fundraising asks in much the same way as men. The asks were very tangible, direct and outcome oriented; things like “X dollars will fund a scholarship for a student athlete” or “X dollars will allow a coach to attend a coaching clinic.”
We spoke directly with alumni (potential donors) from female sports and removed this assumption (along with many others). What we found was that these kinds of asks didn’t land well because the female alumni actually didn’t care as much about supporting the current team in such specific ways. What they really wanted was to be connected to the highly positive and emotive feelings they had when they played on the teams themselves. They wanted the camaraderie of teamplay and to remember how they felt at the height of their interaction with university sport.
When we developed a monthly giving program that focused on this, instead of the old assumptions, we were able to drive monthly giving—increasing YOY recurring revenue by 6x. Even sweeter? The women’s teams outpaced the men's in number of donors (our pilot test increased the number of donors by 8.5x within 4 months). It was a whole new ballgame once we figured out what the assumptions were, and uncovered the truth behind them.
The first step
Think about, and list assumptions. Include, not only the Community Fundraising Lead, the ED or the Donor Stewardship Manager, but everyone from frontline fundraisers to the Board in this exercise. Consider current and past assumptions. Look at your donor strategy and for each step list out why you and your team have chosen to do it that way. Ask—what is it that you believe about your donors that is going to make this part of the strategy work?
In 2020, when Covid-19 first hit, we were working with Annamie Paul, a Green Party leadership candidate, to understand how Green party members felt about her to help her win. There were nine candidates. Annamie was relatively unknown and was also a Black woman—a first for the party.
One assumption we uncovered was that all Green Party members understood the basics of political fundraising. When we spoke with party members, we found that the majority of those likely to vote for Annamie Paul were young, new to politics, and had no idea why politicians needed money. This insight meant we could run two different talk tracks in phone campaigns—one for seasoned members and another for newbies, introducing them to the concept of political fundraising. Compared to the year before, in the four weeks after we implemented free, insights-led tactics, Annamie’s campaign raised 2x the donations from 3x new donors and ultimately, she won the election.
These examples show why understanding your assumptions is critical to ensuring your strategies are purposefully created. The first step is knowing what your assumptions are. The next, is removing these assumptions by uncovering donor insights via talking to real people in in-depth discussions. This allows your fundraising teams to develop insight-led donor strategies that keep donors engaged year after year.
Leigh Sandison started her career in fundraising in the UK—first in corporate partnerships, then product development and innovation in mass market fundraising. She then moved agency side with a focus on strategy and insight-led experience design for top global companies. Drawing on experiences from both the nonprofit and for-profit worlds, Leigh is a founding partner of Real Path, an insights and strategy consultancy focused on helping nonprofits maximize the lifetime value of their supporters.
