Coming out of the pandemic, many charities are slowly resuming their traditional fundraising activities and functions. Some things are certainly different from two years ago like hybrid special events, major gift zoom calls, amplified peer-to-peer appeals and an unprecedented emphasis on mental health programming.
Many organizations also understand the importance of upgrading their fundraising infrastructure so they may consistently obtain the resources they need to deliver programs and create positive change in the post-covid world. A major component of this process is remobilizing their donor relations’ practices and reconnecting with their most loyal supporters. Now the most responsible of charities would have continued and perhaps even enhanced conversations with their donors after March of 2020. However, the sad truth is a significant majority failed to “take advantage of a great crisis”.
In any case, starting a conversation and maintaining it with donors of all levels is an indispensable part of building a long-term base of support consisting of passionate and generous stakeholders who are insistent on giving what they can to enable their favourite charity progress towards realizing their mission and vision. To be clear, a conversation can be face-to-face, a telephone call, a text, a Tweet, a voicemail, an e-mail, a Facebook or Instagram post or a good old fashion letter. The common denominator is to work with our donors to help them to discover their philanthropic objectives, advance their affinity for the cause and galvanize our alliance with them in our quest towards making a better world.
A key instrument in stewarding relations with donors is posing questions that allow us to gain critical insight into aspects of their lives so we may guide them along their donor journey. Responses to these questions provide us with a clear understanding of their involvement with other charities, what personal values they espouse, connections with service clubs, specific areas of interest in our programs, time availability for volunteering, experience with serving on boards, personal debt amounts, approximate household disposable income levels, political beliefs, degree of interest in the cause and their ability to commit to a significant monetary or in-kind contribution. Tracking these variables enables a charity to gauge the readiness to give for each of their donors at any point in time.
Much like businesses engage customers to keep abreast of their changing interests, charities must strive to establish meaningful two-way dialogue with donors to learn about their evolving philanthropic interests. Thus, stewarding relations with supporters is basically taking a customer service approach to philanthropy. Only by obtaining feedback and information from donors about subjects related to their giving ability, linkage to the organization and passion for the cause can fundraisers help their supporters to fulfill their altruistic aspirations.
The key skill that must be employed exercises is listening with purpose. The ears of fundraisers have to absorb every morsel of information their donors share since it is the smallest details that can affect the largest gifts. However, it is first incumbent upon them to ensure the right questions are being asked to elicit the relevant answers they seek. Here are ten (10) fundamental questions that every charity should periodically ask when assessing how ripe their donors are for giving:
1) How are you?
The absurdly simple inquiry about a person’s wellness is necessary to detect if there is any aspect of their lives where something exceptional is occurring – positive or negative – that warrants further exploration. Occasions such as a sudden illness, death in the family, job promotion or a work transfer can radically shift the direction of the conversation and the relationship. When something unfortunate occupies their mind, it is normally prudent to defer any planned discussion to a future time when their attention span is not interrupted.
2) How is the family?
Responses to another incredibly common question can uncover critical details about the most important individuals in the lives of our donors and volunteers. Kids who are college-bound or currently enrolled in post-secondary institutions mean that donor’s giving capacity is likely encumbered by their children’s tuition and student rent. Similarly, you can easily deduce if their disposable income is limited by having to care for an aging relative, or to pay for a daughter’s wedding, hockey tournaments, dance recitals, braces, or summer camps.
Conversely, some replies can indicate that their financial situation may be buoyed by personal milestones like their children leaving the nest to start careers. Perhaps an older relative has recently passed and possibly has bequeathed your donor a substantial portion of their estate. Developments such as these obviously must be followed up with the utmost respect for privacy, diplomacy and tact. Nonetheless, it is vital that they are noted the moment they are detected (this is a topic for another day).
Learning how individual members of the family are doing can also reveal where a donor’s genuine interests or passions lie. Parents of children with varying abilities or affected by different illnesses will often enthusiastically support related charities. Moms and dads also tend to give their time and treasure to athletic and recreational organizations that are associated with their child’s activity of choice. If their parents or elderly relatives are affected by various health issues, donors will frequently direct much of their contributions to corresponding organizations.
3) How was your vacation?
Hearing the replies to this standard conversation starter can provide you with additional glimpses into a donor’s gifting capacity. They may a limited budget and consequently prefer “staycations”, day trips or modest weekends away at an Airbnb. Exotic destinations like Fiji, Paris or Hong Kong might be more within their grasp. You may also find they possess lavish properties such as a cottage in Muskoka, a vacation house in Maui or a chalet in Whistler.
How one spends their holidays is a good indicator of their lifestyle and wealth. Owning cottages and seasonal properties might seem like attractive assets that may inflate a donor’s net worth. But they can also expensive money pits to maintain that ultimately drain their savings. Such properties often have higher mortgage rates that can also impair their giving capabilities.
People who travel multiple times annually on cruise ships or bus tours may not belong in the same tax bracket as seasonal property owners. Yet they are likely to have more discretionary income.
4) How did you become involved with this organization?
Tracing one’s participation with a charity can provide us with a satellite image of their donor journey. We can pinpoint their original motivation for involving themselves with the organization and chart how the nature of their participation evolved over time. A closer examination of their donor journey provides with a very solid understanding of what aspects of the charity resonate the most with them, whether their affinity is increasing or decreasing and what the next “call to action” along their quest should be. Posing this question to lapsed supporters is an effective way to reboot these relationships.
5) Throughout your time with the organization, what event, activity or achievement were you most proud to be a part of?
One of the goals of every stewardship communication is for the donor to depart with a warmer feeling of attachment to the charity’s mission and vision. Having them consider this question accomplishes that as they reflect on their entire donor journey and pinpoint the exact moment when they absolutely felt they were a part of something extraordinarily special. This exercise also instills them with a yearning to experience that emotion again.
6) What other charities or community groups are you also associated with?
A common misconception is that donor loyalty can only be extended to a single organization. It is not only possible, but highly probable that every donor splits their loyalty between multiple organizations. Learning about the different “hats that donors wear” such as belonging to a service club can present the charity with new funding, volunteer recruitment and community outreach opportunities. They can also provide us with a better understanding of their interests and priorities.
7) What other hobbies or interests do you have?
Since we tend to hyper-focus on very specific facets of our donors’ lives, we easily overlook other talents or attributes they possess which might benefit the organization. Asking what other hobbies or pastimes they pursue can introduce us to other roles a donor can play with the organization – roles they often prefer and would be thrilled to perform.
An attorney who sits on a board of an amateur theatre company and donates substantial sums of money might also possess tremendous carpentry skills they gained through a longstanding interest in woodworking. Not only would it be their pleasure to construct the props and stage design for an upcoming production, but they would also feel extremely honoured that others acknowledged their talent.
8) What program or service is most important to you and how well do you feel it’s managed?
Arguably the most basic question that is asked of any donor. Identifying the primary programming areas where a donor’s strongest affinity lies and determining whether they are satisfied with the observed outcomes. Understanding where donors direct their passion helps us to see where they wish to allocate their gifts.
Establishing which programs are most resonant with donors can serve as the foundation of a charity’s relationship with them. This enables us to know what metrics are of greatest concern to them. We can ascertain which members of the community they wish to help through their contributions the most. Most importantly, we can unearth the immediate and long-term program outcomes they hope the charity achieves through their investment of time, talent and/or treasure.
Requesting a donor’s input regarding how effectively they believe their preferred program Is progressing mobilizes them to think and behave like stakeholders as opposed to pedestrian contributors. It encourages them to take a greater interest and consequently a heightened sense of ownership of the positive change that their contributions attained.
9) How have you managed during the pandemic?
Fewer topics are more relevant than reviewing the arduous trek people around the globe as they navigate their course through the SARS CoV-2 pandemic. Tens of millions of lives have been devastated by covid worldwide, and we are obliged to find out how it has affected our faithful supporters.
The economic calamities, public health dangers and mental wellness challenges are bound to have impacted at least some of our donors and volunteers. Engaging them to locate the areas of their lives that have suffered due to covid establishes a rapport with your donors and demonstrates how much you care for them. Replies can also reveal whether there are components of their lives that are so ravaged by the pandemic, it affects their ability to commit to any type or size of gift.
10) What outcomes would you like to see our organization achieve in the near future?
Ultimately the reason why donors invest so selflessly of their time, expertise and money is to help nonprofits address issues and create positive change in their community. Furthermore, the purpose of proactive stewardship is acquainting donors with the community-building results of their generosity, so they develop a sense of ownership in them.
As a way of respecting them as stakeholders, ask them what aspirational program or organizational results they would feel deeply privileged to witness within the next 1-3 years. Make sure they know how much their perspective is valued by assuring them their feedback will help the organization to set its goals and formulate its expectations. Advancing bilateral dialogue like this solidifies the partnership with our most loyal supporters and serves to foster a healthy culture of giving throughout the organization.
Bonus Question: What has been your biggest disappointment with the organization?
Dealing with the positive points is easy. On the other hand, touching on sensitive or unpleasant subjects requires thick skin. Chances are that many donors, volunteers and board members harbour some troublesome feelings, observations or thoughts regarding the organization they are hesitant to share because they do not wish to “rock the boat”.
Provide them with the opportunity to voice their thoughts or opinions, regardless of how negative they may seem, and allow them to release this burden. The information they impart could be beneficial for the charity in multiple areas and conceivably might be something that would enable the organization to take a large step towards realizing its mission and vision. Overall, encouraging donors to come forward with items that are difficult to share advances the principles of transparency, responsiveness and good faith within the organization.
