Donors are people too: Exercise to try
Warning: I’m about to use an industry buzz word — donor-centric.
It’s a word that gets bandied about so much we often forget that there’s a reason it gets bandied about so much – it’s a pillar of solid, relationship fundraising. It puts individual donors and their unique experience with your organization at the center of your fundraising strategy.
As part of a monthly giving strategy session, I just finished an exercise for a client that made the buzz come alive for me in a very real way.
I looked at six different donors to Organization X through the lens of the monthly giving program:
- Carol S. – Multi channel donor who has made 2+ gifts in the past year who is not yet a monthly donor
- Jack B. – Offline donor for whom we have an email address (but who has never given online) who is not yet a monthly donor
- Donald C. – Current offline monthly donor for whom we have an email address
- Nancy N. – Current online monthly donor
- Paul H. – Lapsed offline monthly donor with no email address
- Caron A. – Lapsed online sustainer
I then listed out (in sequence) the touches that each of these donors have received from the organization during the last six months via email, mail and telemarketing.
What did I learn? For confidentiality reasons, I can’t disclose specifics. But I gained a ton of insights on ways to better integrate messaging, segment the file and all-in-all treat these donors better.
Feeling stuck? Try this exercise and start with your donors first.