Insights on improving conversations with your charity's donors

The most common way of measuring donor response is by looking at the outcomes of fundraising appeals, online campaigns, newsletter response slips, etc. How many donors said 'Yes’ with their gifts and how many said ‘No’ by ignoring your request for support.

But, is this really all that is being said in the conversation between your charity and your donors? It seems to me that there is a lot more to be gleaned from donor’s responses to your appeals and other communications.

For example, consider these responses from your charity's donors:

·       Yes, I’ll support your cause, but not by taking on a direct debit.

·       Yes, I’ll give you more than what you are asking for by filling in the blank space you’ve provided.

·       Yes, I’ll give something even when you are not asking because I am really inspired by your newsletters.

·       No, not now, but I will give at a different time of the year.

·       No, I will not give to your cause just yet.

If you want to engage donors in a meaningful conversation with your charity you need to recognise that they are not just saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ and be ready to address a wider range of more subtle responses.

For example, suppose a donor sends a gift that is significantly larger than the suggested amounts on the response form. How should you respond?

You will say ‘Thank you’ of course, like you always do. But, should that be all? – How about telling them that you have noticed the gift is more generous than usual.

But, what else is the donor trying to tell you? You can find some clues in their giving patterns. How large is the gift compared to the donor’s lifetime giving value? Did they make this gift at a special time of the year, or at a time when they usually give?

If the gift is a significant increase, and especially if it is offered at a time of the year when they don’t usually give, they might be telling you they have received a windfall or money from a legacy.

Now, you can start into a new conversation with this donor by drawing them into a deeper relationship with your charity. If the donor is saying that they are happy to give more to your cause then change the money handles in their appeal next time you ask for a gift or consider moving them into a new donor group.

However, most fundraisers do not carry out such conversations with individual donors. They communicate with thousands of people at the same time through appeals, or email campaigns.

And, this is where the donor conversations get both interesting and challenging. If you are communicating or talking to thousands of donors at a time how can you treat them as individuals? – The answer is through rigorous database analysis.

Just think about the results of your recent fundraising campaigns. If each one of your donors is trying to tell you something what useful information can you glean from their responses?

What about the donor segments with the highest response and low average gifts? Are they looking for the right reasons to make larger gifts?

And, what about record numbers of lapsed donors who were reactivated through the Christmas appeal? Should you be using this appeal package to reactivate other lapsed donors in the future?

What are the donors who seem to respond to regular giving asks in relation to one aspect of your work trying to tell you?

The answers you are looking for are in your response slips and in your database. You just need a good way of discovering them. This is where we can help. 

Take our Fundraising Fitness Test to find out what donors are saying to your charity and to develop segmentation plans that can increase your appeal ROIs.

Making friends for life: practical insights to help you retain your charity’s donors

What is the primary purpose of fundraising? – To raise enough money for our charity’s work – you might say. Wrong answer!  

Let’s approach this question in another way. Sure your charity needs money to carry out its programmes but where is the money coming from? – From donors, individuals, trusts, wealthy people, churches etc. So, what a fundraiser or a fundraising team does is develop and implement a fundraising plan to engage with individuals, churches, businesses or trusts and invite their support.

In this context of engaging with people and organisations - the primary purpose of fundraising is to help you find and keep your charity’s donors!  

Once an individual, a church or a business has made a gift to your charity it is vital that they renew their support in the future. You probably know from experience that finding new donors is a costly business so the only way a charity can benefit from such new donors is when most of them give again and again and again.

Many fundraising advisers, including your boss, would tell you to work hard at retaining donors – by doing this you wouldn't have to acquire new ones very often. At face value this seems like the right advice but, when you take a closer look at the return on investment (ROI) from your donor retention activities you
are likely to discover that retaining donors can be harder and sometimes even more expensive than acquiring new donors.

Over the years, working with a variety of charity clients I have noted that retention rates can be affected by many factors including:

• the quality of the newly acquired donors and their propensity to keep giving, 
• the timing and frequency of a charity’s appeals, 
• the efficiency and warmth of thank you letters, 
• the content of appeals,
• the presence or absence of a regular giving programme, etc.  

Another factor that has a huge negative impact on retention is the assumption that the majority of donors are not going to renew their support because they have received too many requests for money! In my opinion, the opposite is true – a decrease in retention rates represents a failure to ask donors in a compelling
and inspiring way to make another gift to your cause. Here is a simple truth: if you are not grabbing a donor’s attention you are not going to get their gifts!

If you want to retain 60%, 70% even 80% of your charity’s donors and turn them from one-off givers to long term friends consider some of these insights.  I have already seen client’s retention rates moving in the right direction by doing the following:

1. Thank your donors within 48 hours of receiving their donation.  
2. Make time to call as many of your charity’s donors as possible - not to ask them for a gift, but simply to say ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’ for their support.  
3. Re-use a fundraising package that you know works well to ensure that your first time donors make that valuable second gift. 
4. Develop and implement a regular giving programme inviting donors to make monthly contributions to your cause. 
5. Strengthening the impact of direct mail appeals by using follow up emails. 
6. Don’t let donors disappear into thin air! 
7. Incorporate ‘soft’ fundraising asks in your newsletters.  

But be aware, that whatever you do you are not likely to retain all of your charity’s donors – some of them will stop giving and you will never know why. But, rather than trying to guess why they stopped giving you can focus on acquiring new donors and on implementing some of these insights and other ideas that can help you retain your charity’s donors.

Finally, make sure you are always measuring the impact of your retention activities and are learning from your successes and your mistakes.