Donors

It’s about me, not you. In other words, “It’s not what you’re selling that matters. It’s what I’m buying that counts.”

I wrote that back in 1997, in the first edition of Strategic Fund Development. Read more about it – and lots of other stuff – in my 3rd edition, released in March 2011 by John Wiley & Sons.

Check out Jeff Brooks’ blog of 12-29-11, “The first (and second, and third) lesson in fundraising.” And what’s the lesson? It’s not about you. Fundraising (and most of life) is not about you. It’s not about you and your organization, it’s about them…the donor and prospective donor.

That’s what Dale Carnegie, 1930s self-help guru meant when he said: “You’ll have more fun and success when you stop trying to get what you want and start helping other people get what they want.” Post that over your desk. Recite that mantra regularly – to yourself, for your board and boss.

Jeff’s 12-29-11 blog cites this learning from a posting on SOFII. A new fundraiser talks about writing something that had “never been said before”. The new fundraiser wanted to be original, didn’t want to copy anyone else’s style. And following that path too often makes you avoid the rules that work. Read Jeff’s blog. Read SOFII.

Nonprofits are in the business of storytelling.

Effective fund development focuses on stories – actually, one story at a time.  And biometric evidence proves it. “Our brains like stories….telling a story keeps the audience engaged.” Check it out at www.neurosciencemarketing.com.

Soliciting is about stories, too…the donor’s stories, your client stories, stories about impact and making a difference.

How about this: Your job is to tell “stories that are too good to check.” I really like that statement. Stories that are so good, so engaging, so meaningful… That there’s no need to fact check. Who cares! Thanks to Neal Conan on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation.”

Now think about this beautiful statement from Carlos Ruiz Zafón, in his novel The Angel’s Game: Everything is a tale. What we believe, what we know. What we remember, even what we dream. Everything is a story, a narrative, a sequence of events with characters communicating emotional content. We only accept as true what can be narrated.”

Everything is a story…

All of this relates to fund development  and our donors.

1. “Thank you for inviting us into your home. Stop by ours soon.” On the Chico’s catalogue that I just received in the mail. Wow. What a marvelous sentiment. It doesn’t say “trademarked.” Could we copy it? Could we at least behave like this with our donors and clients and neighbors?

2. “It isn’t brainstorming…It’s heart storming.” This from Daryl Eaton, board member of the Norfolk Land Trust, Norfolk, CT. Daryl and her fellow board members and I were talking about engaging people in conversation. And I said, “have a brainstorming session with your board about why saving the land matters.” And Daryl responded, “Since emotions are what this is all about, we should have a heart storm session, not a brainstorm session.” Oh Daryl, you are soooooo right. And that goes in my book.

3. The oddest thing about a successful case for support? It’s not about how wonderful your organization is. It’s about how good the donor will feel, if she joins the fight. (Thanks Tom Ahern.)

4. Everyone keeps saying it. But who demands that bosses and boards pay attention? To compete in our message-mad, over-communicated, straight-to-trash world, you simply cannot guess. You must come armed with skills, research, and psychological insights. (Thanks Tom.)

5. Is your fight clear so I can join up if I want to? Because if your fight isn’t big enough (and important enough to me), I won’t join. (That’s Tom again.

6. What’s your donor-centric quotient? See the Donor-Centric Pledge. Test yourself. Donor-centricity cannot be some fashionable phrase you spout. It must be your way of life.

Tom and I were looking at an advertising sign in the Montpellier (France) airport. The ad stated that “your loyalty” equals “our success.”

Yes, indeed. No exceptions. No excuses. Donor and volunteer loyalty are critical to your organization’s success. Without that loyalty, you’ll go out of business, either slowly or quickly.

You develop loyalty by operating as a donor-centered organization. When was the last time you evaluated your donor-centric quotient? What’s your plan to improve and maintain your level of donor centrism? Use the donor-centric pledge as your benchmark. Read Kay Sprinkel Grace’s nice piece, Donor-Driven Philanthropy. Read Keep Your Donors where there’s tons of examples and specific strategies and no-nonsense directions about how to get it together chez vous.

She told me one day about her giving. I was writing a chapter in a book.

“Giving is about making meaning,” she said. “And we can’t make meaning if we don’t empower ourselves.” That was the focus of our conversation, empowerment.

“How sad,” she said to me. “How sad not to feel like an actor, an agent of something in one’s own life and in one’s own world.”

So she gives. She gives to empower herself and to empower her son and daughter. She gives to empower all the disempowered. “Making the gift is making meaning. I demand to be an actor, an agent of change in my own life and in my own world.”

This story is a keeper, forever. What stories do your donors tell you? What stories do you save forever?

P.S. The book is called (Me)Volution: Change Begins With Me. Lovely stories from all over the world. Published by Canada’s Civil Sector Press, a division of The Hillborn Group Ltd. And by the way, Hillborn also has a good fundraising newsletter.

A few blogs ago, I told you how well FASRI nurtures relationships with its donors. I told you about their solicitation of me.

Yesterday, I received a handwritten note from Louise, the admissions/development director:

“Dear Simone and Tom. Thank you again for your gift towards our challenge grant for technology – we’re getting close to halfway to our goal of $10,000 and you helped us get there! I’m enclosing this year’s Francophonie brochure, and I’ve highlighted a couple of events you might find fun. We’ll have 80 students singing in the State House on the 18th and the After School Theatre club performance at FASRI later in the month. Thanks again for your support, Tom and Simone! A bientôt, Louise”

It doesn’t get better than that. A note with an update about my gift. A brochure of what’s happening in the celebration of France here in RI. Items circled about the school and those kids. And this isn’t the only time I’ve received a note like this from Louise. Bravo! Bravo!

P.S. FASRI is a really small nonprofit organization. Louise has two jobs, admissions and development. She shares an administrative / clerical person with the Head of School. I know Louise believes in Tough Love Day. I’m sure she whines and complains periodically. Everyone I know does…periodically. I DO! Complain and whine, that is. But Louise really really really believes. She believes in honoring donors. She believes in keeping donors. She makes the time. She figures that quality fund development – just like a quality French immersion school – is an obligation and an honor and a joy. I say again, BRAVO!

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Cece is 6 years old. Annually on Thanksgiving, Cece, mom and dad decide where to make financial gifts. Then they write the checks and mail them.

Cece’s mom says: “I think with kids it’s important for them to see the tangibility of giving, rather than giving online which doesn’t seem real to them.”

Cece picked two animal rescue groups: the one where she got her cat and the one where she got her dog. She drew pictures and wrote notes to go with the gifts.

I’m wondering: Do the two organizations get what just happened? A 6 year old girl decided to give them gifts…gifts of caring and love, expressed in pictures and money. How did they thank her? Will these organizations feature Cece in the newsletter or annual report (let’s call it the gratitude report, from a previous blog)? Do these organizations know how to nurture a relationship and foster loyalty?

Just imagine. Cece is 6 years old. She could be a loyal donor for years and years and years and years. Cece could be the model for a special program for youngsters. Think about the wonderful engagement opportunities. How would you design this program? I’d ask Cece.

So who is your Cece?

Remember all my blogs about emotional triggers? Remember neuroscience and psychological research that proves that emotions trigger all human decisions? And there are 133 emotions. But who can remember that many? So I always remember the 7 emotional triggers identified by the direct marketing industry: anger, fear, greed, guilt, flattery, exclusivity, and salvation.

Here’s my story, why I founded the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island.

I’m a white, heterosexual, well-educated, affluent woman. I win – except for gender. I’m advantaged, privileged because I’m white, heterosexual, well-educated, and affluent. And by the way, I was born white and born heterosexual. And my parents paid for my education. And my advantages help me get jobs.

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I’m a donor to lots of organizations. My life partner and I give away at least 10% of our annual income to charitable organizations – and 100% of our estate goes to charity.

But not many organizations have asked me why. Darn few have really explored the feelings and interests behind my gifts.

What questions do you wish organizations would ask you as a donor? What questions do you ask your donors?

Here are just a few questions I wish organizations would ask me:

1. What interests you most about our organization? What is less interesting to you?

2. Why did you make your first gift to our organization? (Thanks, Richard Radcliffe, U.K. legacy consultant, for this one.)

3. If you had a personal mission statement or slogan, what would it say?

4. Would you share with me your life’s journey? (Thanks to Liz Hollander, former President and CEO of Campus Compact, for this one.) And Liz goes on to ask such questions as: Who have been the leaders and mentors in your life’s journey? Why and how have they affected you?

5. What would you like to pass on to the next generation – for your children, your nieces and nephews, the children of others?

6. How do you want to be remembered? (Thanks, Carol Golden, Executive Vice President and Senior Philanthropy Office at the Rhode Island Foundation.)

What are you prepared to ask your donors? What are you prepared to be asked yourself?

“Do we really have to nurture relationships? They’re already our donors. And we have so much other work to do.”

Yes, people actually say that to me — in workshops when I’m presenting. And sometimes, in the early moments of a consultancy, a new client just barely starts to whisper — but then they see my frown.

Do you know the biggest reason wealthy donors stopped supporting charities? Because they no longer felt personally connected. Of the 38% of donors who stopped their support to one or more charities last year, 60% said they did so because they just didn’t feel that connected anymore. That’s from the 2008 Bank of America Study of High-Net Worth Philanthropy available at the IUPUI Center on Philanthropy.

But there’s more…

Some people say that donors don’t really want a relationship with an organization. That may well be true.

But what about the many donors who do want a relationship?

Donors use your organization as a conduit to achieve their desires. They give through you, not to you.

Think of me: I’m angry about the injustice in the world. I want social justice – equity regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity / race.

How many different organizations can I give to? Lots. Equity Action Fund at the Rhode Island Foundation. Women’s Fund of Rhode Island. Women’s Funding Network. NAACP. National Committee for Lesbian Rights. Southern Poverty Law Center. Planned Parenthood. Many many many…

So if an organization doesn’t nurture the relationship with me, I can find another organization that will. And I can still fulfill my interests and achieve my aspirations.

Yes, relationship building is important. My good friend Doris always says, “Absence does not make the heart grow fonder.” So true. And real true with donors.

Yes, most donors want to hear from you, and not just asking for money. Donors want to know things like: How did you spend their money? How did their gift make a difference? How will their next gift make a difference? Whose life is better and why?

Are your thank-you letters and newsletters telling donors what they want to hear? Are you talking with donors, asking their opinions and finding out their interests?

There’s so much you can do to nurture relationships with your donors of both time and money. Some is no cost. Some is low cost. And yes, some strategies may cost more money. (Chances are, you can ignore some of those strategies.)

It’s way past time to nurture relationships between your donors and your organization. It’s never too late to foster donor loyalty through relationship building. (And remember, it costs 10 times more money to acquire a new donor than retain a current one.)

Read Keep Your Donors: The Guide to Better Communications and Stronger Relationships. Tom Ahern and I explain why and how. We give you specific examples and tons of practical tips.

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