· Taking Donors for Granted
o You expect donors to always be there and give even when you do not show that you are grateful.
o Imagine sitting at your kitchen table writing out a check for $50, $100 or $1,000, sealing the envelope, putting a stamp on it and sending it back to your favorite charity. You feel really good about your gift. A few days and then a week goes by and you haven’t received anything back from the charity. Another week goes by and you finally receive the long awaited thank you note in the mail and it’s…wait for it…a tax receipt. It’s useful, but it doesn’t match the joy you felt when you made the gift. Or you receive a thank you, but it doesn’t take into account that this is your first gift, your largest gift, or even where you designated your gift.
o What if you received a thank you call when the charity received your gift and the person who called you noted that this was your first, largest or second gift of the year? Or what if the thank you call was from a student or a recipient of the funds and they let you know what a difference your gift made in their lives?
· Not Sharing the Impact of the Giving
o You don’t regularly share the financial and social impact of the donor’s gift on the organization and people. What has happened as a result of the gift? Who does your non-profit serve?
o You have so many great stories about the funds you raise and what those gifts are doing for your organization. Share stories with donors in a consistent and captivating way. For example, a psychology professor is doing research on Alzheimer’s and dementia. She sends a first-person story via email about breakthroughs in her research in a clear and compelling way. We can all relate to having aging relatives or know family and friends suffering from Alzheimer’s and we want to know researchers are making progress.
o Use video (check out ThankView) to send a direct thank you message from a student who is an athlete, honors student and who has had several interesting internships. Help her share how grateful she is for the donors’ generous support.
· Not Focusing on the Persuadable Donor
o You have your loyal donors – people who give to you no matter what. You have people who will never give. And then there are the persuadable donors.
o Persuadable donors are those that behave like loyal donors in other ways, but who are not giving. You can use predictive modeling to learn who they are. And then you can ask them in the right way, at the right time, with the right person for the right cause.
o First analyze and understand who your donors are and then match those characteristics to those who have not yet given. If you aren’t using your data to help you focus on the persuadable donor, you are missing opportunities to gain donors and dollars.