The change from summer to fall brings sweaters, autumn colors, football, and end-of-year campaigns. If you haven’t started yet, it is time to get moving! It is an important time of year with 31% of all charitable contributions coming in during the month of December and 12% of giving comes in the last three days. So, hold onto your hot chocolate and get ready for the wild ride.
As you consider this year’s campaign, here are two ways to improve fundraising both now and in years to come.
Set an intention to connect personally with your donors
Success in fundraising is linked to how well you’re doing at honoring relationships. The better your organization is at creating collective goodwill, the more money and resources will show up for the mission.
Knowing that fundraising is largely about relationships, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to surmise most nonprofits aren’t doing their best work. Current fundraising research is telling us the donor retention rate for nonprofits is a dismal 45%. What this means is, for every one person you get to make a gift, one stops giving. Nonprofit leaders are asking and donors are giving once but it is what happens before and after the gift that is most critical for a second gift and beyond. Donors want to be validated and they want to know the results of their giving. If you focus your efforts on learning and listening to your supporters and then incorporating what you learn into future requests, you can raise substantially more money for your nonprofit.
Most organizations have past supporters lying dormant. Many of these past supporters will give again and several can give or get much more. This requires focus and effort to create a lasting connection.
Courtesy of Janeal Ford
Janeal Ford is the president and CEO of Fordable Fundraising
A few years ago, I was excited to have a board member invite me to a fundraising event for a nonprofit serving youth who are homeless. Passionate about the issue, I was eager to get involved and pledged a first-time gift of $500. Now, $500 isn’t a major gift, but as a first-time gift, most savvy fundraisers would be curious if there was any additional capacity or interest on the other side. I was hoping my gift might get me a phone call or an opportunity to get more involved. I suppose I could have looked on their website to see the volunteer opportunities, but I thought making a cash gift was a way I could achieve the same end. After all, a savvy fundraising organization understands that giving is a byproduct of honoring relationships. By giving a first-time gift of $500, I was hoping someone would take notice and bring me into the fold. I was wrong to make this assumption.
The acknowledgment letter from my gift was prompt, within a week or two. A template ‘thank you.’ No personal note, no acknowledgment of my connection to the board member, no phone call. No one at this agency was even curious to know why a stranger would part with a handful of Benjamins. The next touch point came two months later with a direct mail letter asking me for more money. This left me feeling disappointed and extinguished any interest in making a second gift.
It reinforced what I already know from experience: While a nonprofit may appear to be sweeping gifts off the porch steps, it doesn’t mean they honor giving from their donors. These organizations may just have good brand awareness or they serve a population that can garner support from a wide audience. Either way, by not taking the time to connect personally and steward supporters, charities everywhere are leaving money on the table and holding back their missions from moving forward. Commit this year to pause and take the time to hear and acknowledge what your donors have to say and it will pay dividends in the new year.
Acknowledge and appreciate your fundraising team
Several months after the event, I reconnected with my board member friend and we got to talking about fundraising (my favorite subject). She began telling me (again) how great the youth organization was with fundraising. I cringed and shared my story with her. When I finished, she was aghast with disbelief and explained it was never even communicated who made gifts from her table. So, not only did this organization miss an opportunity for greater giving by not following up with me, the organization also didn’t appear to be acknowledging their team of fundraisers.
Fundraising is a team sport. It takes everyone working together — staff, board members, volunteers, and other donors. Board members play a dual role in charities; they are leaders of the organization and they are also donors. They are responsible for ensuring adequate resources and they also give their time, talents, and treasure. It is common for staff to lament that board members need to do more, but often board member contributions go unacknowledged. Nonprofit leaders need to acknowledge the fundraising team to keep spirits high and communicating results will keep them engaged. If the youth organization had communicated who made gifts (excluding gift amounts), along with an aggregate total, it would have conveyed their individual success and created another opportunity for gift acknowledgment. Acknowledge the work of your fundraising team and watch the charity reap rewards.
End-of-year giving is an important time of year; it is the time when people engage with charities. By making intentional efforts to connect personally with your supporters and to take time to acknowledge your team, it nurtures the spirit of greater possibilities.
Janeal Ford is the president and CEO of Fordable Fundraising and has served in the nonprofit sector for more than 20 years. As a fundraising professional, board member, community volunteer and consultant, she has helped charities raise millions of dollars. Ford received a Bachelor of Science in Sociology and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Utah and is a Certified Fund-Raising Executive.
