Stewardship

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New Year’s Resolution – one stewardship contact a week

Hand writing "Thank You!" on white sheet of paper.

Donor care or stewardship calls, notes, or Emails are amongst the easiest contacts to complete. So simple, yet we often get bogged down in our day to day activity and we forget how easy it is to simply call someone, write a quick note, or Email.

  • Thinking of you.
  • Thank you for your support.
  • Your financial support changed the lives of the people we serve.
  • I hope you have a terrific week!
  • Happy Birthday!
  • Congratulations!

Whatever the occasion, or simply to let someone know you are thinking of them, take a moment and reach out to one person today – a donor, volunteer, prospective donor or volunteer, a client, or a colleague.

Make it your New Year’s resolution to reach out to one person a week simply to check in with them. Remember to document this contact in your customer relationship management (CRM) system or database just the way you would a meeting or other move.

Remember, your contact with donors and volunteers should not just be about funding or a need for a shift to be filled. Take time to let someone know they mean something to your nonprofit or charitable organisation.

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Happy Thanksgiving, USA

It’s Thanksgiving in the USA and, by now, many will have enjoyed a meal surrounded by family and friends. I woke up this morning to several Thanksgiving greetings from nonprofit organisations including the following from Share Our Strength, Boston Children’s Hospital, The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, and SpeakEasy Stage Company:

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Earlier this year I wrote about one of my favourite donor care messages from University of Queensland.

Messages such as these, and the one I received early week from the Wisconsin Alumni Association, are wonderful ways to show the love for your donors. These stewardship pieces are cost effective to produce and very fruitful in sharing the joy. These pieces are also great motivators for people to continue their support by making an immediate gift at calendar year end.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, worldwide! And, to the charities taking the time to send these messages of gratitude out – thank you! You not only made this donor feel good, but you also added variety to my in box this morning, which is full of “black Friday” sales offers from retailers. Kudos.

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Wisconsin Alumni Association sends Thanksgiving greetings

The Wisconsin Alumni Association (WAA) sent their Thanksgiving greetings yesterday by way of video message to WAA members. The well-rounded piece included a multitude of thanks from Paula Bonner, CEO of WAA, as well as a view of the campus, students, and activities, and what’s to come in the future. This is a perfect example of a superb donor care video and good, solid stewardship of donors.

Snip20151125_72I personally loved the ask for a gift when I opened the page as much as I did the video. The ask did not come at the end, but prior to even selecting play.

Wisconsin has a great tradition of raising a lot of money via its UW Foundation and also WAA. The alumni community is grateful to UW and shares love back in more ways than their pocketbook. Nonetheless, it is fantastic to see the love sent our way in a creative piece such as this Thanksgiving message. Wisconsin and the WAA really gets donor care and stewardship.

To all my fellow Badgers, Happy Thanksgiving!

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University of Queensland understands good stewardship

Good stewardship – made simple. That’s what University of Queensland understands. On Tuesday of this week, I received a hand written note from a third year pharmacy student thanking me for my recent contribution to the University of Queensland.

When was the last time you received a hand written note? Maybe a birthday or Christmas card, but rarely anything more. When you receive a hand written piece in Post, it stands out in your letterbox amongst the mountain of machine-processed mail. The added personalisation matters. Not every piece of mail could be produced in this manner due to volume and time constraints. However, pieces like this one, received from University of Queensland, make a difference when hand written.

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What also matters about this piece is the fact it is not just hand written, but it comes from a student receiving financial support from many donors across the university.

I wrote a FundraisingForce blog post about the gift giving experience with University of Queensland and the dynamic call received from a student. This hand written note is just one more step University of Queensland take to engage people like me, giving small amounts of money on a routine basis. Want to improve your organisation’s stewardship? Look to University of Queensland as a model.

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Donating is like dating – no one gets married after the first date

Donating is like dating. No one gets married after the first date. Do they? I get irritated when charities and their staffs treat my donation as a one-time transaction or, worse, like a one night stand.

It typically goes something like this:

  • I make a gift.
  • I receive a receipt.
  • I never hear back from the charity until they want an additional gift, usually double or triple the size of my original gift. Or, they ask me for a regular gift or a major gift in this third interaction.

What’s wrong with this picture?

I liken the situation to dating. I think it should go something like this:

  • I make a gift (this is the first date).
  • I should receive a receipt. I should also receive a warm and fuzzy letter of appreciation and, perhaps, a welcome video or SMS (this is the charity dropping me off after the first date and suggesting we should go out again).
    • You can never thank someone enough or too much!
  • The charity courts me, informs me of ways in which my first gift and the countless others matter.
  • I get asked for a second gift.
    • Remember, do not call the person the next day, after a first day, for fear you will look desperate.
  • I make a second gift (this is the second date. Note: we did not go out again right away and nor did we have a one-night-stand!).
  • Eventually I may decide to make a larger gift or a regular gift (this means we are attracted to one another and are getting serious).
  • The major gift and/or a legacy gift are really about a commitment (this means we are fully committed to one another).

Why is it that a majority of our donor interactions are not about the relationship and instead are focused on the first transaction?

The above analogy may not be politically correct and may make some non-profit staff a bit uneasy. Take a few minutes and think about it. If we spent less time focused solely on the first transaction and more on retention of the newly acquired donors perhaps we would have a lot less attrition.

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Call from University of Queensland hits all the marks

Call center operator at work

I received a call from a University of Queensland student on Monday night.

I am a sucker for these calls. It reminded me of the type of calls I receive from my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin. This call from University of Queensland was superb.

The student, a female, thanked me repeatedly for my generous support of the university. She asked me why I give to the university, noting I am not a graduate of the university. Again, she thanked me for my support. She then confirmed, edited, and enhanced my contact details. Finally, she told me about an emergency fund, “Greatest Needs”, to help students in financial crisis and discussed the ways in which this fund helps students to remain in school rather than exit, before graduation, due to financial crisis.

She asked me to support the university once more by making a gift that night. I gave.

I gave because of the quality of the call and because this caller convinced me University of Queensland cared about my support, cared enough about me to check the data in their database and to keep it up to date, and cared enough to educate me about the emergency fund. I was convinced I needed to open my wallet and commit to giving again. Further, the call was not just about the next gift. The call was about stewardship, about data quality and, then, about fundraising. This multifaceted call proved to be a good use of University of Queensland resources and of my time. The call from University of Queensland hit all the marks.

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Infographics tell a story

Remember when you were a child and you loved it when your parents read you a book? You would listen to the story, but you really paid attention to the pictures. As adults we are really not much different. We appreciate the words in document, but we also value the pictures. As the 1971 Rod Stewart song is titled, Every Picture Tells a Story.

Snip20150927_18The University of Wisconsin, my alma mater, recently sent an electronic communications to alumni to highlight recent university rankings. They used an infographic to highlight the terrific standings. Each year, U.S. News & World Report rank the nation’s universities and the University of Wisconsin typically ranks in the top tier in a variety of areas. People love a winner and promoting these rankings offers an opportunity for Wisconsin to tell us how valuable our degree is in present day, as well as an opportunity to prove the money we are investing as alumni is paying dividends. Further, universities use this as an opportunity to attract new fundraising or additional gifts from those of us who may have already given this year.

How is your non-profit organisation using infographics to tell your story? You likely already have information together to tell a donor care or stewardship story. You likely put this type of information in writing. Why not translate it to an infographic, as well? Remember adults are pretty split in terms of absorption of information. Some adults learn by reading text and others by visual representation. Play to both audiences to be sure you capture the attention of the majority.

For universities in Asia-Pacific, U.S. News & World Report announced a global edition of the rankings as coming 6 Oct! Perhaps your alma mater or perhaps your university employer will be listed in this global edition.

How about a shout out to the University of Wisconsin for their outstanding achievements and for ranking so high amongst US universities? On Wisconsin!

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Treat complaint calls like a gift

COMPLAINTS_DEPARTMENTNone of us like to get complaint calls or negative feedback. In fact, we hate it when someone complains about our non-profit organisation. People might complain about the mission of our organisation, the services we provide, or some other matter.

Each of us needs to treat complaint calls like a gift. Complaints calls are an opportunity to reconnect with the person making the complaint and to address issues within our organisation.

Some pointers when receiving complaints:

  • Respond the same day the complaint is received.
    • Even if your first response only tells the person you are investigating the matter and sets an expectation as to when the person may expect a full response.
  • Show gratitude when the complaint is received.
    • Let the person lodging the complaint know you appreciate their feedback.
  • Fully investigate the complaint.
    • Gather all the facts in order to respond intelligently.
  • The customer is always right may not always be right.
    • It is OK to point out the facts to the customer without shifting blame to the customer or making the customer out to be the issue.
  • Respond in the most personal manner possible.
    • If the person lodged the complaint on Twitter, send a direct message to ask them for contact details in order to call them. If the person wrote via email, try to send them a personal note via Post or, again, call them. Often times the personal touch will diffuse situations.
  • It is OK to escalate, but empower staff of all levels.
    • It is acceptable to escalate the response to those at the top of the hierarchy, but you also must empower staff of all levels to resolve issues.
  • Exam internal systems and protocols.
    • Improve performance, so another individual does not repeat the complaint in the future.
  • Track complaints in your CRM.
    • Tracking in your CRM will allow you to measure and monitor patterns.

In the age of Twitter, TripAdvisor and other forums, complaints are prevalent. Using them as an opportunity to re-engage with the person and also as an opportunity to “fix” issues within make the complaint well worthwhile.

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Just say ‘thank you’

Snip20150730_2I received a thank you email from a charity this week – the McGrath Foundation. The subject read “Thank you, Stephen, we couldn’t have done it without you”. McGrath Foundation was not asking for money. The Foundation did not ask me to take any action.

The McGrath Foundation simply thanked me.

We do not thank each other enough in our personal and professional lives. Charities do not and cannot thank their donors enough. Too often, we as fundraisers have our hand out making an ask for a gift rather than our hand out to thank the donor. Often times a simple thank you will generate an additional gift and even a larger gift.

How often does your charity send a thank you to donors without making an ask? Have you picked up the telephone to thank a donor and to simply check to see how they are doing? When was the last time you wrote a hand written thank you note to a donor instead of sending an email? Go the extra mile (kilometre) and see the difference it makes.

McGrath Foundation placed a subtle message in their thank you email – the email told me they are halfway to their goal of 110 nurses. I interpret this line as a simple update. I might read that and believe McGrath want me to make a contribution to help the Foundation achieve the goal. I might read it and feel the need to help. McGrath Foundation hopes I feel gratitude by this email and, at the same time, no doubt hopes it generates some needed income. This stewardship email may be a wave as part of a campaign. Nonetheless, the focus of the email is on expressing appreciation and it makes recipients feel good.

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Donor care gone wrong

Doubletree-1I checked into a Doubletree hotel last week and I found a box of chocolates and a note written to…not me, but Ms Jensen. I have been called a lot of names in my lifetime, but never Ms Jensen.Doubletree

When I received this note and the chocolates (which were placed in front of a television with the words “Doubletree welcomes Stephen Mally” on the screen), it made me think about the importance of accuracy in donor care.

It made me think about the first thing someone does when they receive your non-profit organisation’s annual report or when they walk into the lobby of your building. The donor looks for their name on your donor honour wall/honour roll.

Things can go very wrong at this point. We have all lived this nightmare – wrong spelling, wrong person, incorrect dollar category, or…a missing name altogether.

I receive calls from people this time of year as they prepare donor listings for annual reports, donor walls, and other forums. “How do I accurately get lists out of The Raiser’s Edge?”, “Why are my anonymous donors coming out in a variety of ways”, “How do you track the way the donor actually wants to be listed on the donor wall?’.

Make a new year’s resolution. Ask donor’s how they want to be listed in public forums. Create a place in your donor database to track donor listings. In The Raiser’s Edge, this place will be an Additional Addressee on the Addressees and Salutations Tab. Asking the donor for their preference, in advance, will save you the headache at end of financial year. Additionally, set a policy and a procedure for tracking anonymous gifts from donors.

Taking the time now to determine the processes for thee types of donor care activities will save you headaches on New Year’s Day!

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