When you donate to a charity, how do you feel about—

• Receiving a flood of mail or email asks?
• Having to request a thank you or receipt?
• Conversations that only ask for more?
• Hearing only the sad stories, nothing about the successes of the charity?
• Pressure cooker timelines, e.g. donate by the 31st or ….?
• The expensive brunch invitation when a fast-food place would be more acceptable (even with the charitable receipt)

What are your impressions of this form of treatment? Does it make you any more committed to the charity or does it make you look elsewhere to provide your support?

Let’s remember to “walk in a donor’s shoes” and treat our donors as we would like to be treated— with respect and gratitude.

Donor perception is everything

Here are a few pro tips that can make a significant difference in how your donor perceives the charity.

1. Don’t flood mailboxes and emails with your next request. It’s not only exhausting but rather irritating. Give your donors a break. They may be donors who only give at certain times of the year and you want to ensure the charity is on the gift list for that time.

2. A thank you is priceless. When we donated $140.00 of school materials to a charity, we had to call to request a thank you letter. Oh shucks, they forgot! How about the $200.00 gift certificate paid in cash for the silent auction? Oh shucks, they forgot! No one forgets. It was just too much effort. A charity can only “forget” so many times and then they are forgotten ones.

3. Phone calls made to donors are an opportunity to find out more about the charity’s supporters. Don’t make it just another ask. Relationship fundraising is key to success, so when a caller knows nothing about the donor other than they give—well these chats are short.
Consider a call just to say thank you for the donor’s support. Ask them what it is about the charity that garners that support? And then (maybe) take a few more minutes to find out a little more about this donor, without imposing on their cheque book. Remember to record the key points of the conversation in your database as an ongoing record for you, or the next person in your role.

4. I don’t give to sad stories; I give to success stories. Every story can be used to show the benefits of donor support. Once, when I asked a charity to see the impact of the donations they received, I received only sad photos of little kids needing medical help. Along with that photo we would love to see the impact the charity and its donors have made.

5. Charities have an opportunity to connect with donors over email. Sending short updates on successes or areas of interest will help to maintain the donor’s continued support. Yes, it takes time to keep donors in the loop. But, without donors how can the charity support its mission? Again, it's not always about a fundraising ask, it can be just as valuable to give follow-up on their areas of interest.

6. Pressure cooker fundraising with short timelines seems unnecessary when most of us live in pressure cooker situations in our daily lives. Personally, I don’t respond to these types of appeals. We are not lemmings; we are human beings so please treat us as such.

7. If the charity is running an event, be sure it’s the kind of event you would like to attend. The food, entertainment and location are all key factors. I recall an event where the charity served a turkey dinner in February and the ticket price was sky high. Cheap doesn’t cut it when considering customer (donor) satisfaction.

In closing, treat your donors like you would like to be treated. Be fair and remember to express gratitude. With so many charities looking for support, set yourself apart with exceptional donor relations. Everyone has the same amount of time in a day. Empower your staff to provide priceless experiences to your donors. The charity will thrive!

Sharron Batsch BSc is the developer of @EASE Fund Development Software and the author of "From Chaos to Control - Build a High Performance Team Using Knowledge Management" Contact her, sharron@batschgroup.com.