- Jen Viano Communications
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The Donor Attraction Letter
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Have you reached out to your donors recently to get their opinions, impressions, and suggestions?
If not, sending out a simple donor survey soon can help you engage more effectively with your supporters and make strong emotional deposits that lead to more giving.
As a best practice, I recommend nonprofits reach out to their donors with a survey at least once a year. People LOVE to share their feedback and feel listened to. Your donors are no exception.
Not too long ago, I received a donor survey from the Michigan Humane Society, one of my favorite nonprofits. As a donor, I was happy to see their interest in my thoughts and took the opportunity to give them some insights about why I give and what I care most about. As a fundraising professional, I was pleased to see them taking this step to get to know their donors better. Bravo to their development office—bravo!
So, What Kind of Survey is Best?
Naturally, this depends. : )
Although your donor survey can take many forms, I’m focusing this post on a simple survey you can create at SurveyMonkey.com, an online questionnaire tool.
If you’re not already familiar with SurveyMonkey.com, give it a whirl. Their basic version is free. The software is user-friendly and comes with some handy analytics tools.
Beyond your online survey, you can expand your survey communications plan with phone, in-person, and direct mail channels.
What Are Some Good Questions to Ask?
You’ll want to give thoughtful consideration to the questions you pose.
There are many things to consider as you create your questions. Here are just a few:
What is the purpose of the survey? Does it relate to improving overall donor satisfaction or something else, like an upcoming campaign?
What decisions will be impacted by the results of the survey?
Will the survey be customized for different segments?
How will you use the data you’re collecting?
To help get your creative juices flowing, here’s a look at some sample questions that might be helpful to include:
Tips for Getting a Good Response
At this point, you’re probably thinking:
Sure, sending a donor survey sounds great. But getting donors to actually respond … that’s the hard part!
Yep, that’s for sure!
But, knowing more about your donors, their communication preferences, and what motivates their giving is vital. This survey can help you collect lots of important donor data to help inform future decision-making around how to best build your donor relationships.
So, let’s talk about how you can increase your likelihood of getting donors to fill out your survey. Here are some of my top tips:
Don’t Forget the Follow-Up!
Hooray!
Your survey has closed, and you’ve got a plethora of actionable insights you can turn into donor gold.
Now what?
In addition to the bigger picture analyzing and longer-term donor cultivation/stewardship steps, don’t forget these two important near-term action items:
The big takeaway is this:
If you’re looking to build loyal, lifetime donors who love your nonprofit, getting to know your donors with surveys like this isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity! Showing your donors how much you care about their giving experience with you will make them feel special, listened to, and loved. And that’s a terrific formula for keeping more of your donors and growing their giving over time.
Dedicated to helping you attract and keep your donors,
Jen Viano
Nonprofit Writer/Consultant
Editor, The Donor Attraction Letter
PS: Want Some Help?
If you’d like help creating a donor survey and communications to promote it, please reach out to let me know! I’d love to help. Hit reply to this email or call me at 248.957.8918.