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Fundraising Tuesday: How to Keep Donors Coming Back after the First Gift

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Here’s the simple secret that every nonprofit organization should know about donors:

They are not your donors. You are one of their charities. Click To Tweet

And maybe, not for long.

Seven out of ten donors who gave to an organization for the first time in 2019 did not renew in 2020–even though giving was up dramatically overall!

Donors who have given to you one time will not give to you again–unless you connect with them, appreciate them as people, reply to their communications, and encourage them to take the next step that expresses their values.

John Haydon

John Haydon

Connect, Appreciate, Reply, Encourage. In other words, CARE.

And the late, great John Haydon can show you exactly how. His book Donor Care: How to Keep Donors Coming Back after the First Gift is your essential guide to donor love.

 

Why You Should Read This Book

Are you a complete beginner at nonprofit fundraising? Then here’s what you’ll get out of this book: you’ll understand why caring for donors feels good, makes the world better, and raises more money–all at the same time!

If you’re on staff at a nonprofit, and you need to convince your Executive Director and your Board that showing the love to your existing donors is the place to spend your time and budget, you will love the stories and data that John gives you to make your case.

If you’re convinced but don’t know where to start, this book gives you a roadmap. If you’ve started but need to get organized, the CARE framework will help you make sure you’re doing all the most important things.

And if you’re an experienced fundraiser like me, you will find wonderful new ideas and even more valuable reminders of the how-tos of Donor Care in every chapter. You might even want to take the next year and systematically go through the book, using it as a springboard for improvement and a checklist to make sure you don’t miss a trick.

I am biased, because John Haydon was a friend of mine. and I love hearing his voice again on every page of this book. But I know that you will too! Donor Care is like sitting down and having a good conversation with someone who tells stories and jokes, shares his wisdom, and helps you find your own. Read this book now.

Fundraising Tuesday: Where to Find New Donors

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If you have to put your time and energy into finding new donors OR renewing the donors you have, choose donor retention.

donor retention

Don’t just take it from me. “The old growth model is acquiring more new donors than we lose,” says Josh Whichard, a partner at Washington, D.C.’s DonorVoice. The old model, said Whichard, is like a leaky bucket, but one with more water and fewer holes. The new model is to plug more of those holes and need less water. In other words, renew your donors.

Why is it better to renew than to acquire? Lynne Wester of Donor Relations Guru Consulting points out that it’s “7 times more expensive to obtain a new donor than it is to keep the one you have.” Renewing one donor is as good as finding seven new ones!

And Kivi Leroux Miller, one of the leaders in the nonprofit field, tells us that nonprofits have to focus on retention to thrive in the long term, and she adds, “I certainly hope we will see retention grow as a priority in coming years.”

When You DO Need New Donors

Sometimes, though, you just can’t do without new donors. Maybe you’re a new nonprofit, starting out with a small circle of friends. On the other hand, you could be an old organization whose loyal supporters are aging out.

And no matter how many leaks you fix, some donors will always be one-time donors (like the majority of the people who give in honor or in memory of a friend). You need to replace the dollars they give, either by getting your existing donors to give more, or by acquiring new donors.

How do you do find new donors when you need them?

Communication is Key

In the for-profit world, companies are facing an uncomfortable fact. “Experts everywhere proclaim that people are 60% or more of the way through their decision process before they contact you or your company,” says sales maven Jill Konrath.

Nonprofits are in the same boat. Donors today do their research. They look up their favorite causes online, and they check out what you have to say about your organization–and what others say about you–before you ever hear from them.

So, if you want to find new donors, mostly they have to find you first! And when they find you online, they have to like what they see, or they will choose some other organization before you ever send them an email or a newsletter, much less an “ask.”

So, you will need to:

Introducing You

donors introduce friendsBut the best way you can acquire new donors is by having your loyal year-after-year donors introduce you!

Yes, we’re back to the importance of donor retention. Even for getting new donors, it’s vital to renew  your support from the people who have given to you already.

Think of it this way: Before they will give to you, people have to know you, like what you do, and trust you with their money.  What helps a person get to know, like, and trust your organization more than the word of a mutual friend?

Ways Your Donors Can Introduce You

  1. In person. Ask a thoroughly committed donor to set up a lunch date with one of their friends, to introduce the organization.
  2. Forward an email. Your donor can pass along your message with one of their own, “Kathy, I thought you’d want to read this because…”
  3. Share a post on social media. Again, it helps if they personalize it.
  4. Direct people to your website for timely, topical information.
  5. Just talk about you! “John, did you know that I’m involved with [your organization’s name here]? And I’m excited about it!”

If you don’t think your most loyal supporters will be happy and proud to introduce you to their friends, then your organization is a leaky bucket–and you may need to spend more time renewing your donor support instead!

But you may be underestimating the loyalty of your existing donors. Ask them. You have nothing to lose, and you may have a whole world of new supporters to win. Who are you going to ask for an introduction, today?

Fundraising Tuesday: Make the Donor the Hero

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Let’s try an experiment. You’ll need your latest fundraising letter, a blue pen, and a yellow highlighter. Put them all on your desk. Ready?

highlighter

Highlight your donor, not your organization

Pick up the pen and circle every mention of your organization. It could be the agency’s name. It could be the word “we,” used to refer to your organization. How many blue circles do you see? A lot, I’ll bet.

Now, pick up the highlighter and underline every mention of your donor. Yes, you can count the salutation if you called them by name. You can also highlight the word “you”–if that means the donor who’s reading the letter.

Is there more yellow on the page than blue? If not, you’re losing donors with every letter you send.

To Renew Their Support, Focus on Donors

A lot of us in the nonprofit world are under a misconception. We think that the reason donors give to us is because we do good work.

No, that’s the reason we’re proud of our organizations. It’s not the reason people give!

If doing good work were enough, you wouldn’t have to worry about getting donors to renew. They’d get to know, like, and trust your organization, and then they’d keep on giving into the indefinite future. But about 70% of the people who gave to you for the first time in 2015 didn’t renew their gift in 2016.

Don’t focus on what you do. Focus on how the donor feels.

Make the Donor the Hero of the Story

Seth Godin writes:

Why on earth would a rational person give money to charity–particularly a charity that supports strangers? What do they get?

A story.

It might be the story of doing the right thing, or fitting in, or pleasing a friend or honoring a memory, but the story has value. It might be the story that you, and you alone are able to make this difference, or perhaps it’s the story of using leverage to change the world. For many, it’s the story of what it means to be part of a community.

For your donor to renew, she or he has to feel like the hero of the story. You are the one who is going to make donors feel like heroes. And the fundraising appeal letter is just one of the many times during the year you have an opportunity to do that–but it’s a crucial time.

Spiderman emblemUse your fundraising powers for good.

Write fundraising appeals that tell the donor, “Because of you, this happened. You are my hero. And you are needed, now.”

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