Donor Relationship Management

Face it … not everyone cares about your cause — and there’s not much you can do about it.

"There are always going to be people that are more interested in shoe shopping than what you have to say," says Kivi Leroux Miller.

Fundraisers often ask, “Why should I spend time working with young donors?”  

In response, I often challenge them to perform a simple test: analyzing the age of their current donor base. If they’re like many organizations, they’ll find a significant number of donors age 40 and older. 

We’re living in a networked society where people are interested in making a real difference by doing things through their own, self-selected communities — online and offline. This according to Bryan Miller, head of strategy and consumer insight at Cancer Research UK, who presented the session "Community Fundraising 2.0: The Future of Fundraising in Our Networked Society" at the first International Fundraising eConference May 12 to 14.

May 15, 2009, The Chronicle of Philanthropy — Donors who participate in giving circles — in which individuals pool their money and decide collectively how to distribute it — give more than other donors, give more strategically, and give to a greater number of organizations, according to results of a study released this week.

Saying thank you. Recession or no recession, it’s one of the most important things you can do to keep more donors. Of course, you might already know “the basics” — things like thanking your donors promptly, segmenting by giving level or personalizing your letters. But there’s lots more to effective, engaging thank-you letters. And with the help of nonprofits from Toronto to Tasmania, you’re about to find out how much more.

If fundraising were a person, and he or she was on Facebook, I’d tag her/him with the nasty “25 Random Things” meme. We’d learn some surprising things about fundraising. But since fundraising itself is a mute nonentity, I’ve taken the job upon myself …

In a Forum for Fundraising webinar last month, Pat Rich, principal at EMD Consulting Group, outlined 29 recommendations for how organizations can gain donors and retain their donor bases, touching on everything from planning your program and acquisition and renewal strategies, to upgrading current members and creating member surveys.

Justin Ehrenwerth, Philadelphia coordinator for Obama for America, discusses his session at the Franklin Forum in Philadelphia in late April, which shared tips on harnessing the power of small-scale donors, grassroots volunteer efforts, technology and communicating with constituents.

Donors want newsletters. Research has told us so. But most donor newsletters go unread. In last month’s Forum For Fundraising webinar on creating highly profitable donor newsletters, Tom Ahern, principal at Ahern | Communications | Ink, explained the disconnect and the reader psychology behind it, told attendees how to speak to donors' personalities, and shared some key secrets behind great donor newsletters.

Before organizations can properly engage women as donors, they need to assess their own readiness and capacity for cultivating them.