Donor Relationship Management

While looking through past articles and columns, etc., for this "Looking Back" feature this morning, I was kind of struck by the snarkiness of this Editor's Note from March 2009. I must have been in a snit, but it eventually winds its way down to a point about fundraising and the important task fundraisers have in educating donors about how good it is to give.

Survey, contact and interview your donors all you want. There's real value in doing so. But that value may turn out to have more to do with cultivation than with predicting their future behavior.

View your fundraising position not only in increased revenue terms but as a lobbyist. Your job is to educate, communicate and engage old and new internal and external constituencies in the life of your organization with respect to philanthropy.

The April 2007 issue featured a cover story on the Girls Scouts of the USA, called appropriately "Smart Cookies," that explored how a sweeping organizational transition would mean a new focus on fundraising and an enhanced partnership with its local councils around the country.

After a frustrating experience trying to make donations in friends' names for the holidays, I asked readers of my April 2009 Editor's Note to examine the ways that seemingly minor glitches and missteps can affect their all-important donor relationships.

How do you become your donors' favorite cause — you, the one that they want? Here are five things you can do to increase engagement

Special thanks to Sue Pargman, senior copywriter at Masterworks! She took on my challenge last week and provided suggestions for all five letters. So, welcome Sue, my co-author for this article. I’ll be sharing some of her thoughts along with mine. So with that, let’s look at K, L, M, N and O.

Your nonprofit’s credibility is directly tied to your reputation. The more credible you are the better reputation you have. Strong credibility is especially important when asking for donations. An integral part to a donation decision lies in whether an individual feels an organization is credible or not — essentially asking, will my hard earned money be used legitimately? Donors assess your credibility as a way to manage risk.

At the DMA Nonprofit Federation's 2013 Washington Nonprofit Conference last week, three fundraising professionals provided a step-by-step approach to make your data work for you to help send more targeted messages in the session "Donor-Message Matching: Increasing Response Through Offer Optimization."

Unfortunately I still hear horror stories from donors and their advisors about their experiences with fundraisers and charities. Giving should be a joy, but sadly this isn’t always the case. The inability for fundraisers or charities to thank donors is also surprisingly common. Some don’t even bother and only re-contact a donor when they make another appeal for funds. It’s quite astounding that such a basic thing as "thanks" is executed so poorly.