I used to teach a class on fundraising planning. In the first week of class, I would make a $25 donation to 10 charities that the students would choose. I would send out 10 cheques and then I would wait. I taught that class for eight years. Every single year, there would be at least one charity who had not gotten an acknowledgement letter to me during the 14 week duration of the term.
One of the best ways to learn about good donor relations is to give money to other charities, particularly now. Right now there are two powerful forces in the donor universe that make it particularly important to be at the top of your stewardship game.
One important issue is that the world continues to be uncertain. In these uncertain times, donors are re-evaluating what matters the most to them. If you are not doing good donor stewardship, you are at real risk of permanently losing donors.
The other key situation in this time is that the way we all interact with our world is changing. Thanks to COVID, donors are more sophisticated in their use of technology and better able to interact online.
With donors rethinking their priorities and with more ways to connect, a great way to be sure you are doing your best is to be a donor to several charities yourself. By experiencing how it feels to be a donor to other charities, you will have a better sense of how to excel in your work at your organization. For example, as a donor, I have been able to attend Zoom briefings by two charities I support. This has given me a good sense of what works, and what doesn't, in an online donor stewardship event.
As a donor, I have been able to see how other charities thank me - or in many cases ignore me - and this lets me learn how to thank the donors to my organization better. Far too many charities appear to only rely on email for outreach. With a full inbox, it can be easy for a donor to ignore thank you emails, eVites, and eNewsletters. Very few charities have sent me anything by mail and I have received no calls.
As a donor, I am seeing the benefit of providing print and telephone as part of the stewardship mix. As noted, if all your thank yous are online, you risk donors missing your message. Conversely, while digital is crowded, paper mail is not. Strategically using snail mail for thank you cards, stewardship reports, newsletters, or event invitations will stand out.
While it is always wise to take good care of your supporters, in this time, it is even more important than ever. By participating as a donor yourself, you can get ideas from the best and learn how to be better than the worst.
In her day job, Ann Rosenfield works as a fundraiser for a small charity in Toronto.
