By Mandy Cloninger, CFRE
Many years ago, I made my largest gift commitment, a five-year pledge to a capital campaign. I am very proud of the gift I made and love the organization where I contributed. Unfortunately, after 60 months of diligently contributing to that gift, only I noticed that I completed my pledge. My monthly gift simply concluded, and now several years have past, and I’m no longer contributing to this wonderful organization.
How often do donors leave your organization and you notice?
Are you relentlessly pursuing a relationship with your best donors, so if this happens, someone notices?
A former boss once said to me, I’d much rather call and say thank you to a donor than call and ask for money. Wouldn’t we all?
Then why is it so difficult for organizations to build the systems, processes and discipline to do this?
It isn’t. It’s about being relentless.
When I was online dating, I committed to spend an hour a day responding to messages and searching for the one. I wasn’t going to just half-way invest in finding romance, I was committed. No matter what time I got home, I spent that one hour swiping right, sending messages, searching and reading profiles and thinking of witty things to say.
We need to relentlessly pursue our donors like we are searching for the love of our life!
Donors leave organizations because they do not feel connected to the mission any longer. They feel uninformed, forgotten.
How relentless are you about building a relationship with your donors?
Here’s a quick true/false test to determine if you pass/fail:
- I regularly review new donors to my organization.
- I regularly call donors who make a gift of at least $1,000 to my organization.
- I personally know who the best donors are to my organization.
Whether you’re the CEO, development director or a board member, you should answer TRUE to all three.
The love of your life has just quit giving to you if you’re not paying attention.
