Raise More Money in 2014: Make it a Year of More Donor Love

The Donor Attraction Letter

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Today I want to help you kick off 2014 with a powerful theme—–a mindset, really.
 
If you get really excited and serious about this, I know it will catapult your success with keeping more of your donors, raising more money, and dramatically increasing the lifetime value of your donors.
 
And it’s simple:

Show your supporters more donor love.
 
The concept of donor love is spreading like wildfire!
 
Top nonprofit communicators, researchers, and fundraising consultants are emphasizing more than ever how important donor love is.
 
Now, you may be asking:
 
What exactly is “donor love?”
 
Put simply, donor love is all about how you communicate with your donors in between your solicitations. It’s about showing lots of appreciation and gratitude for their support. It’s about keeping them in the loop and close to your nonprofit.
 
On a deeper level, donor love is about using your communications to create feelings for your donors that they’re looking for. It’s about making your donors feel loved, valued, joyful, appreciated, important, happy, and part of something good.
 
Why You Need to Love Your Donors More

Here’s a short answer for you:

A lot of your donors aren’t giving again after you get their first gift.

On average, research shows that 7 out of 10 first-time donors jump ship.

Yikes!

Hopefully your statistic isn’t quite this bad.

And donor loyalty—–keeping your donors longer over their lifetime—–is on the decline.

In economic terms, this means a HUGE LOSS in short-term and long-term funding for your nonprofit.

This is, of course, because people who keep donating tend to give larger and larger donations over time. Their passion and emotional attachment and commitment to supporting your cause grows. Year by year, they move from first-time donors to repeat donors to up-leveled donors to major donors to planned giving donors.

Your $100 donor today—–with proper care and plenty of donor love—–might just be the perfect prospect for what could be a million dollar planned gift.

Plus, you need to factor in other costs of donor attrition like unrealized support in the forms of volunteer service, involvement in advocacy efforts, and peer-to-peer fundraising.

And remember: Just as it is for businesses and their customers, it costs far less to retain donors than it does to attract new ones.

But, there’s an antidote to this terrible trend of losing donors:

More donor love, of course!

Although there are different reasons for why a donor stops giving, research is telling us that many leave because:

Donors feel they were TREATED BADLY after they gave.

This happens because:

They aren’t thanked in a timely, warm, personal way.
They get asked for another gift way too quickly after they make one.
They get too many uninspiring appeals for donations.
They receive impersonal communications (like those that don’t address them by name).
They don’t get donor-centered feedback on how THEY are making positive change happen (ie: too much focus on the organization and not enough focus on the donor).
They aren’t consistently communicated to via channels they prefer.
They aren’t communicated to in ways that touch them on a deep, emotional level.

That list doesn’t tell the whole story.

But, these are some reasons at the very heart of why a once-happy donor to your nonprofit decides to ditch your cause and give their money to another one.

At the end of the day, many donors you’re losing say goodbye because they feel your nonprofit wasn’t providing an emotionally-rewarding giving experience.

So, they go in search of one that will.

How You Can Love Your Donors More + Raise More Money

OK, on to some good news!

You’re in the driver’s seat.

There’s A LOT you can do in 2014 to show your donors how much they mean to you, strengthen donor relationships, and raise more money by loading on more donor love.

And it all boils down to creating and executing a donor communications calendar that makes your donors feel the way they want to feel, which will do wonders toward keeping them giving … and at higher levels over time.

Hands down, it’s one of the best investments you can make.

Consider this:

With some additional focus on donor retention (aka: donor love) communications, research reveals that even a 10% reduction in attrition can yield up to a 200% increase in the lifetime value of your donor database.
 
Sounds like a VERY good investment to me!
 
So, here in 2014, I urge you to invest more of your time and resources on doing a better job of nurturing and inspiring the donors you already have—the ones who gave during this past holiday season and during the past year and those who’ve lapsed over the past few years.
 
Thanking your donors often + powerfully, showing more gratitude for donors’ gifts, and stepping up your stewardship communications throughout the year are great places to start.
 
And, with donor trust quite low these days, reaching out more to donors to let them know how their donations are helping and having impact is really important.
 
If you’re thinking that all of this sounds like a lot of work, it is!
 
But, aren’t your donors worth it?
 
And, let’s face it:
 
Funding is the oxygen that your organization needs to survive and thrive and do more good.
 
And you know the best way to increase that funding?
 
By communicating with your donors in ways that make them feel:
 
APPRECIATED
JOYFUL
IMPORTANT
INFORMED
INVOLVED
LISTENED TO
LOVED
 
Want Some Help?
 
If you’d like my help creating your donor communications calendar and writing new communications that are emotionally-rewarding for your donors, please get in touch!
 
Just hit reply to begin a conversation or call me at 248.957.8918.
 
We can work together to develop a fantastic calendar filled with consistent, warm, friendly, touching, donor-centered communications that make your donors feel loved + attracted to your nonprofit 365 days of the year.
 
The big takeaway is this:
 
So much in life is really a cry for love. Now more than ever, people are looking for more kindness and appreciation and validation and meaning and love in their lives. This is especially true when it comes to your donors. Philanthropy is a TOP way people seek out these feelings. Yes, your donors want to help make the world a better place by helping others through your organization. But, please never forget that your donors have some very personal (perhaps selfish?) reasons to give, including the desire to feel loved. Show more love to your donors, and watch them gravitate more toward your organization and keep their giving going.

Dedicated to helping you attract and keep your donors,

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

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