Donor Relationship Management

A bad experience with a vendor drives home important points about how to treat your donors.

Many, if not most, nonprofits think that there’s only one moment that matters in their fundraising: the donation. But to your supporters, a donation is just a single gesture among many in how they relate to your organization and the cause. They sign petitions, attend events, volunteer and share stories about your cause with their friends. And they do this because they want make a positive change the world.

Most of the activities mentioned in the previous paragraph include untapped “money moments.” These are the “moments” you should focus on to build stronger relationships with your supporters.

In March 2007, Carsten Walter, then director of membership programs at The Heritage Foundation, explained how for-profit common sense can help an organization "sell" its cause, in his article, "The Business of Fundraising."

Why convert? And to what end? To quote Tom Harrison, Russ Reid CEO, why are nonprofits mad at about 50 percent of their donors at any given time for donating in the “wrong” way?

In its attempts at conversion, the sector either makes too many assumptions or too few and too many attempts to convert the wrong donors to the wrong something and not enough trying to convert the right ones to a convertible something.

Do you know what your donors want? Do they want a clever T-shirt? A fancy certificate? A lovely lapel pin? A practical coffee mug? A recognition lunch? Maybe. However, while some donors will appreciate receiving trinkets or invitations to recognition events, others really don’t care and still others will view such items as a waste of money. So, what do your donors really want?

Virtually all donors want to know that their donations will have a positive impact. In other words, donors of all sizes want to know that their contributions make a difference.

In our May 2011 issue, Pamela Grow offered "10 Foolproof Fundraising Tactics." Her intent was to give readers ideas on how to raise money even when it seems no one is giving. But her solid advice holds true no matter what the economy is like and no matter when or who you are asking.

While the Harry Potter phenomenon is less timely now than when a new film would hit the big screen — oh, calm down, I hear all of you fans clamoring that HP is always timely — this blog post, "Advice For All You Muggle Fundraisers from Professor Albus Dumbledore," remains a favorite by Pamela Barden.

Avoid crying by proper preparation and strategy. In the end it's all about scoring and enjoying the game!   

In the November 2009 issue, then To the Point columnist Jocelyn Harmon wrote about a timeless issue — "The Fine (Yet Simple) Art of Thank You."

In our May 2012 issue, Donor Voice CEO Kevin Schulman mapped out the "Anatomy of a Committed Donor."