Gail Perry-How Your Nonprofit Board Can Increase Donations by 39 Percent

By Gail Perry

Here's a killer strategy for increasing your gifts by up to 39 percent. What is the magic ingredient? It's your board members, who else?

It may sound impossible for one fundraising strategy to return such a large increase in gifts. But this strategy works, and there's solid data to back it up.

Thank-you phone calls
Your board members will like this job because they don't have to ask for money. All they have to do is thank. This is one of my favorite no-ask fundraising strategies for board members. It's a perfect place to put them to work, even if they are nervous about soliciting.

The next time you send out an appeal, go ahead and employ your standard thank-you processes — letters, personal notes, etc. But add a special thank -you element:

Organize your board members to make thank-you phone calls to these donors within 24 hours of the gift being received. It's really important that they make the calls quickly.
Ask them to talk to a real person if at all possible.
After several tries, they can just leave a message thanking the donor.
The phone calls are not about asking for another gift. They are for stewardship only. If your board members are adventurous, they can ask the donor why he chose to make this gift. They can pull out the donor's story — and the donor will be even more pleased and honored.

Studies show — over and over — that donors who get thank-you calls give more than donors who are not called. In fact, fundraising guru Penelope Burk, who did the original research, found that these extra thank-you calls boosted subsequent gifts from donors by as much as 39 percent.

That should get your attention!

Pitfalls
I know several organizations that have tried to implement thank-you calls to donors but could not achieve board member buy-in for the project. They found that board members would say, "Sure, I'll make some thank-you phone calls." But they failed to call, or they were not prompt. They took assignments but didn't follow through.

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Gail Perry Author's page Gail believes in parties first, rabble-rousing second, and having fun while changing the world. Gail Perry CFRE is an international fundraising coach, speaker, trainer and thought-leader. She is a leader in a new breed of fundraisers who are on the cutting edge of fundraising today. Her Fired-Up Fundraising approach, developed over the past 25 years as a nonprofit philanthropy expert, has helped organizations raise hundreds of millions in gifts. Gail's practical and refreshing approach to raising money in today's world is based on the very latest innovative fundraising strategies. An inspirational and popular speaker, she leads energizing fundraising workshops and board retreats around the globe. She particularly enjoys working with nonprofit board members, introducing them to a new perspective on fundraising and ways they can be successful at it. Gail's book, Fired-Up Fundraising, has been called the "gold standard guide to building successful fundraising boards." Gail got her start in fundraising at Duke University, and then went on to lead fundraising at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can read Gail's weekly blogs at FiredUpFundraising.com, and also find her provocative articles at FundraisingSuccess, Guidestar, and Capital Campaign Magic.

How Your Board Can Increase Donations by 39 Percent — Without Asking for Money