Donor Love MUST-DOs to Keep Your Donors Giving: Part One

The Donor Attraction Letter

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

As I touched on last week, donor love is a powerful antidote to the high + costly donor turnover rate many nonprofits are experiencing.
 
At the heart of the problem is this:
 
Donors give and then have something we can call “donor’s remorse.”
 
I’m experiencing it now … and it truly breaks my heart!
 
Last year, around the holidays, I gave to many different nonprofits I’m passionate about. For some, my giving experience was terrific and wonderfully emotionally-rewarding:
 
Their thank you communications were prompt, personal, warm, and engaging.
Their invitations to learn more and get involved were informative and inspiring.
The stories they shared about how my support was helping made me tear up on many occasions.
 
But, for others, their post-donation communications fell short.
 
Sometimes VERY short! Some were non-existent.
 
In those cases, I absolutely felt donor’s remorse.
 
Instead of feeling loved and appreciated by the people handling my donation, I felt left in the cold.
 
I felt a tinge of regret. Especially for new organizations I chose to support, I felt uneasy and unsure and lacking confidence. I wondered if all was going well with processing my gift. I wondered if the nonprofit was well-run … or unorganized and unstable? I wondered if they treated others served by the organization this way?
 
Instead of making strong emotional deposits with me, they made emotional withdrawals. Instead of feeling an emotional high from my giving, I experienced an emotional low.
 
Maybe you’ve experienced donor’s remorse, too?
 
Basically, when you don’t communicate well and often and consistently and in a timely fashion with your donors, the message you’re sending is this:
 
You’re support isn’t that important to us.
 
Not exactly a message that gets a donor all warm and fuzzy inside, eager to continue their support, is it?
 
Donor Love Can Prevent and Reverse Donor's Remorse
 
So, let’s get to it!
 
You, my dear fundraising friend, can put the power of donor love to work so that you don’t let your donors down.
 
With some focus, care, and attention on a fantastic donor communications program—–one filled with warm, personal, friendly, cheerful, compelling, engaging messages—–you’ll be amazed at the success you’ll have with:

  • Keeping more of your donors.
  • Growing the number of people who donate regularly and at increased levels each year.
  • Attracting major and planned gifts.
  • Inspiring donors to use peer-to-peer fundraising to spread awareness about your cause and raise money.
  • Building the lifetime value of your donor pool. 

And the list below of MUST-DO donor love communications will help put you on the right path.
 
You’ll notice that many of my recommendations are basics. They’re fundamentals for strong donor communications. However, many nonprofits aren’t doing all of them. Or they’re doing them poorly.
 
Get these MUST-DOs right, and I just know your donors are going to feel wonderfully appreciated, connected, inspired, involved, and loved. And THAT will keep them giving!
 
All right, let’s dig in!
 
Donor Love MUST-DO #1:
Awesome Thank You Communications
 
How you thank your donor after she gives plays a HUGE part in the decision she’ll make when you ask her to give again.
 
Not being thanked well—–or not at all—–is the #1 reason that donors stop giving. It’s why first-year donor retention is in the 20-30% range. That means fundraisers like you must work hard in any given year to attract 70-80 replacement donors for every 100 new donors attracted in the prior year.
 
Ugh!
 
So, to battle back against that typical, dreadful donor attrition rate, be sure your thank you communications are:

  • PROMPT: Have an immediate thank you generated for online gifts. Send your thank you letter via postal mail within 2 business days.
  • WARM: Get rid of any lofty, formal language and replace it with warm, emotional, genuine, conversational wording.
  • PERSONAL: Use your donor’s first name in the salutation and within the body text. Your donors know you know their names. They don’t want to see you address them as “Dear Friend.” For printed letters, make them sparkle with a personal feel by handwriting your signature and include a handwritten personal note across from the signature block. Handwrite the name/address on the outer envelope.
  • PLENTIFUL: Remember the adage: Find 7 ways to thank your donor and she’ll give again. Build a thank you process that loads on thanks after donations are received.  And don’t forget to give special thanks and recognition at different milestones in the life of the donor (ie: cumulative giving milestones). 

And get creative, too!
 
Really put your heart into thanking donors with fun, meaningful ways that are sure to get them smiling and connect them closer to your mission. Some examples:

  • Produce a short, moving video featuring people the donor is helping.
  • Create a donor appreciation certificate designed with handprints of children helped … or paw prints if the donor is making life better for four-legged friends.
  • Schedule a thank-a-thon where board members, volunteers, and staff carve out dedicated time to thanking donors.
  • Have a beneficiary serve as your “thank you ambassador.” In this role, the ambassador would send handwritten thank you notes and/or make calls to donors.

Get LOTS more thank you tips and strategies here, here, and here.
 
Extra thanks and plenty of heartfelt gratitude throughout the year: In my humble opinion, these are your very BEST donor attraction and retention tools.
 
Here’s a DO-IT-NOW tip for you:
 
For every single donor who gave to your nonprofit in 2013, send a special thank you letter/note expressing your heartfelt appreciation for their support. No ask of any kind should be in it. Use the next couple weeks to get these letters in mailboxes by the end of January. This will help you keep more of your donors this year and set you up for greater success with generous responses to your solicitations.
 
Donor Love MUST-DO #2:
New Donor Thank You + Welcome Package
 
Because a new donor is an especially important relationship to honor, recognize, and cultivate, sending a special thank you/welcome package is a simple way to stand out and show your new friend how much her support means to you.
 
These packages tend to take different forms with varying types of content, depending on the organization. I recently helped create one for a client that included:

  • Special outer envelope with teaser copy + beneficiary photo
  • Custom 2-page cover letter
  • Enclosure featuring special message from a child/family beneficiary (with photo)
  • Latest printed newsletter 

Other enclosures might include an organizational brochure, brief survey, and a small gift/premium that ties in with your mission.
 
Sending welcome packages are an EXCELLENT INVESTMENT that will undoubtedly help make your new donors feel so very special, appreciated, and loved.
 
They’re the perfect way to begin “romancing” this wonderful new relationship!
 
And, beyond that, creating a “New Donor Communications Plan” is optimal.
 
People who’ve just been welcomed in to your donor family are different than those who’ve been giving for years. So, the communication touch points for these folks should reflect the uniqueness of their relationship to your nonprofit.
 
After a new gift is received, I recommend you develop a cycle of donor-centered communications/actions that takes place over the next few weeks/months before another solicitation is made. 
 
A more comprehensive new donor communications approach will help you continue making strong emotional deposits with personalized outreach and terrific donor service. And when your next appeal reaches their inbox or mailbox, you’ll have a much higher likelihood of getting that crucial second gift.
 
Donor Love MUST-DO #3:
Donor-Centered Newsletters
 
Your printed newsletters and e-newsletters are fantastic donor retention tools—–if you’re creating them with donors’ desires and needs at the forefront.
 
Remember, donors are the heroes making the stories and progress and programs and services you highlight in your newsletter possible. So, ask yourself:
 
Is my newsletter focused on the donor/supporter/reader, recognizing her as the wonderful person making good things happen … or is it focused on my organization and our staff, giving them the credit?
 
With the overwhelming majority of newsletters (and many other nonprofit communications, too), the latter is unfortunately the case.
 
The result?
 
Missed opportunities to capture interest, tug on heartstrings, create deep emotional connections, and attract more support from donors/prospective donors.
 
After a long day, when your donors come home and settle in to read your newsletter, this is what they’re looking for:
 
They want to feel touched.
They want to feel needed.
They want to feel appreciated.
They want to feel loved.
They want to feel they belong.
They want to feel moved, seeing their values come to life.
They want to feel happy.
They want to feel inspired.
They want to feel important.
 
And you can give these feelings to your donors by shifting from a “corporate style” of communications to a “donor-centered style.”
 
What does that mean, exactly?
 
As Tom Ahern, master donor communicator, says:
 
Corporate communications are about how great the organization is (think “we” as pronoun most used).
 
Donor-centered communications are about how great the donor is (think “you” as pronoun most used).
 
Recently I participated in a fabulous webinar featuring Tom Ahern titled “Everything I Know in 60 Slides.” Please, please, please take a few minutes NOW to pour over these slides! You’ll learn a lot you can apply to your newsletters and other donor communications, too.
 
Now, let’s talk frequency.
 
First, based on donor feedback, research is showing that donors generally feel over-solicited. But, when asked what they really mean by that, they tend to say that they weren’t communicated to enough in between solicitations with stories and content that matters to them.
 
Your donor-centered newsletters can help right the ship.
 
Here’s a basic schedule I recommend that can be modified depending on different dynamics in your nonprofit:
 
Printed Newsletter:
 
Send quarterly or, at a minimum, twice yearly.
 
Start simply, if needed, with a short 2-page newsletter. With a donor-focused approach, built around stories and content donors care about, your printed newsletter can become a profit center for you (ie: helping to inspire significantly more monetary support than its cost).
 
And, just a few tips here:
 
For your newsletter mailing, I recommend segmenting donors and including a personalized cover letter with a handwritten signature/note for these packages. For maximum “I can’t wait to open this!” results, handwrite the address on the outer envelope, too.
 
All of this will drive up the “feel good factor” your donors are looking for, which will keep your nonprofit close to their hearts and giving again.
 
One last thing: Some organizations send a special “donors-only” newsletter. This is a terrific way to show special recognition and service to your donor friends.
 
E-Newsletter:
 
Send monthly, at a minimum, or twice per month if possible.
 
Your e-newsletter will help keep you in front of your donors and top of mind. It gives you a consistent way to share stories, thank donors for making progress possible, call attention to interesting new content on your website, involve your supporters, feature special volunteers/donors, and much more.
 
Using social media, you can easily cross-promote your e-newsletter via these channels, too. Many of your supporters may prefer reading and clicking over to content from Facebook, for instance, versus email, so this is a great way to “meet” your donors wherever they like to hang out.
 
Bottom line:
 
E-newsletters are a cost-efficient, effective way to get timely information to your donors, stay connected in between your fundraising appeals, and tell your donors how much you appreciate their support.

Thanks for reading and see you next week for "Part Two."

Dedicated to helping you attract and keep your donors,


Jen Viano
Nonprofit Writer/Consultant
Editor, The Donor Attraction Letter

PS: Looking for help with crafting some donor love communications? Just hit reply to let me know what you'd like to work on, or call me at 248.957.8918. I'd love to help you!

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