How to Make Your Donors Feel like Heroes

 This blog post originally appeared November 20th, 2013 on Bloomerang.   As we approach the peak of end of year fundraising and the beginning of a new year I encourage you to take a short break to call your major gift donors and congratulate them on how they are making an impact.  If you are doing a double take its true, I did not say call them to say thank you!  I said call and congratulate your donors on how they are making an impact.  Your donors made a difference, let them know!  Your donors are the hero of your story.  Tell them how their giving has made an impact.  Schedule a power hour of calls on your calendar and start dialing.  You will likely get voice mails but be surprised how quickly it takes and what a meaningful impact it can have on end of year giving and donor retention.

As fundraisers it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.  We never have enough time to tackle everything on our task list (and I just heaped yet another thing to it).  The fundraising options around us are positively dizzying.  In the midst of juggling everything we’re doing to raise money I invite you to take a moment to get clarity around what inspires donors to give.

First and foremost to secure any major gift you have to understand your donor’s interests.  You must know what they are passionate about. Giving is about the giver, not about the organization or the cause. The organization is the conduit through which donors live their interests and aspirations.  You should know your major donors passions and interests – if you don’t ask them!  Call them and let them know you want to get better acquainted with them as a part of serving their needs and letting them know how they are making an impact.  This is a critical step in portfolio assessment that allows you to determine how to best focus your energy on donors who want to have a deeper relationship with you and maximize your major gift giving.

Let’s assume you’ve taken that step and know what they care about.  Donors want to feel like their gift can make a difference.  Describing a litany of needs on behalf of your organization or the unquenchable challenges of population you serve can make a donor can feel overwhelmed.  They can feel like their gift won’t matter and worse, like the problem may not be solvable.  Give them a bold creative clear cut solution to an issue they cared about and detail the positive outcomes of the change they will bring about.  It’s easier to wrap your hands around a dream with a clear solution.  A laundry list of needs and feel defeating and overwhelming quickly.

Did you notice I said the change they will bring about?  Major gifts and planned gifts are about making your dream their dream.  It is not about you or your needs.  It’s about them – your job is to help them do good.

Set an Email Out of Office that Inspires Your Donors

About to set your out of office for the holidays?  This is a golden opportunity to put a warm glow on your organization right at end of year when people are thinking about giving back.

A couple of weeks ago I got the gold standard of all automatic out of office responders from my friends at Greenlights who were away from the office after their big gala.  We all know how exhausting and demanding events are.  After months of planning, recruiting sponsors and table captains, selling tickets, organizing seating charts, making name-tags, finding auction items, and writing speeches most folks are ready for a vacation, if not retirement.  But while you may be ready for some well deserved time off your constituents are at the peak of their adoration of you and positively buzzing with goodwill about your organization!  Ironically this is when they are the most likely to reach out to you - when you are taking some well deserved time away from the office.  It may be a couple of days or a week.   Usually when I reach out to a staff member after an event or around a holiday I get no response or a very brief one sentence autoresponder.  That’s exactly why Matt’s message stood out like a rose in a bed of thistles.

Here’s what I love about his message:

1)      I was thanked immediately for supporting the event – in the subject line and the first sentence.

2)      I got important “insider” info about the events success – I was told in second sentence how much they raised that night.

3)      He shared important program information – revealing the award winners were.

4)      He ended with a call to action to donate.

Whether you craft a thoughtful holiday out of the office or a post gala out of the office message, put some thought and preparation into it.  Leverage this communication to thank your constituents for their support and share a brief quote or story of thanks from a client you serve.  Include a link to give in your closing or as a p.s.

Special thanks to Matt Kouri and the great team at Greenlights for letting me use their email in this post!

Happy Holidays!