I write about and teach donor stewardship a lot. In fact, I get a lot of emails from non-profit professionals each week who want to pick my brain about stewardship. Today I thought it would be fun to have a virtual coffee with you!
The best way to increase your revenue is through stewardship
One of the questions I get ask most often is, “How can we raise more money?” My answer – focus on building outstanding relationships with your current donors. It costs a lot more money to acquire new donors than it does to increase a current donor’s gift amount.
Here’s the catch – donor stewardship means you must be consistently building relationship with donors.
Taking action is what prevents most organizations from achieving this kind of success. Schedule time in your calendar for stewardship. Ruthlessly prioritize what actually brings in revenue, and let go of the rest.
Be consistent
One of the biggest pitfalls that organizations have with donor stewardship is a lack of consistency. We start off with good intentions, but soon the tyranny of the urgent takes over and stewardship takes a back seat.
I see the solution to this as being two-fold. First, we have to prioritize our donors. Every time we decided that stewardship is not a priority, we are essentially saying that we don’t care about our donors. I know that might seem like a radical thing to say, but this is the impression we give to our donors when we don’t steward them well.
Second, we have to have a plan to sustain consistency. Developing a donor stewardship plan is the best thing you can do. A donor stewardship plan will tell you exactly who you need to steward, how and when.
The game is about being memorable
What is stewardship really about? At its core it is about showing gratitude and telling donors about their impact. We know from research that Roger Craver and Penelope Burke have done that donors tend to not make a subsequent gift when they have not understood how their gift was used.
Realistically, any organization can demonstrate gratitude and tell donors about their impact through stewardship. The real goal is to be memorable – for donors to remember how great they felt when they made a gift.
The actions you take, the stories you share, the feelings you cultivate in a donor’s heart and mind are what make your organization memorable.
For the past two weeks I’ve been talking a lot about donor stewardship, recognition, and retention all in honor of Stewardship School being open for enrollment.
Want to pick my brain some more? Have a stewardship question you want me to answer? Leave a comment below!
Vanessa – I would like to know what you would do to steward first time donors to a non-profit organization. They are most likely to lapse so what can we do to provide them with better stewardship?
Hi Lynn – that’s a great question! First time donors are super important to steward. In fact, I would suggest prioritizing them when executing stewardship because when they are stewarded well and promptly, they are more likely to make a second gift and at a higher amount.
In terms of ideas for stewarding first time donors, I think the best thing you can do is to make a thank you phone call. It’s a highly personal touch point that really shows a person that you care, plus you can build direct rapport with them.
Another great thing you can do is send them a snail mail welcome package.
Great post on a super important topic Vanessa. Good job!
Thank you, Claire! This post might just be the tip of the ice berg on that topic of stewardship.
Hi Vanessa, when you say ” focus on building outstanding relationships with your current donors.”, what does that mean? Current donors in the past 1 to 5 years or all donors? Hope you are enjoying your tea!
Hi Vanessa, how would you deal with the following senario: A cheque donation that arrives in via a hadwritten letter that the person has obviously taken time out to write (and I mean write as with a pen & paper!). Thankfully, there’s a return address but they are not on your donor (or service user) databases and so we have to assume that they are a first time donor? Thanks, Leo.
Hi Stacey – Thanks for asking that great question. I consider current donors to be someone who has made a gift within the last 2 years. If it’s been past 2 years, I consider them lapsed,w which is a different can of worms.
Hi Leo – I would say that if they are nowhere to be found in your donor database, they are probably a new donor. If there is someone with the same name, you could always call them to find out if it’s the same person. They might have changed addresses and not updating their information with your organization.
Hi Vanessa, I’ve been in my role 1 year. To cultivate relationships, do you recommend making personal visits? Do I visit with the Exec Dir or just me? Should I be scheduling time each week to do that? Or do I start with personal phone calls? Help!
Hi Cathy – Thank you so much for asking your question! I know a lot of people have similar questions about how to proceed with face-to-face visits. Personal visits are a great way to cultivate relationships, and are part of the reason why major gifts can be such an effective fundraising method. You’re able to really develop a personal relationship with someone through those visits.
Here’s what I did when I was working at a Development Officer:
1) I scheduled certain days each month to be my “out the door days” where I would go visit donors. I found it helpful to designate this activity to certain days as it ensured that I was able to be in the office to do other work.
2) I prioritized which donors I wanted to visit. It can be impossible to visit everyone, so make sure you prioritize your donors. I put them in to A, B, and C categories based on how much they were giving, how long they had been giving for and other prospect information. Personal phone calls can be a great way to feel out the donor to see if they are interested in talking to you and potentially be open to a visit.
3) You can absolutely take a buddy on your visits. If you’re feeling nervous about visiting donors, this is a great option. Your ED, Board Chair, or Program Director are great options. I find it can be more effective to take a buddy when you are a) getting ready to make an ask, or b) stewarding someone after they have made a gift.
I hope that gives you a few ideas, Cathy. If you have follow up questions, please feel free to ask!
Thanks Vanessa. Very helpful.