You’ve Got A Friend: Cultivating Donor Relationships
Much of the news right now is a heavy mix of doom and gloom. Inflation and costs seem to be rising with little concern from lawmakers. The job market is not strong. Nonprofits face budget cuts especially from government grants and contracts. Given all of this, it is easy to get caught up in the doomsday hype. However, there are bright spots like Giving USA’s recent report indicating that giving even with accounting for inflation increased and consistent fundraising principles that can secure individual gifts.
While the United States has long championed the rugged individual, we are also the nation that created the notion of civil societies that rely on neighbors and others for support. That idea is the very essence of modern philanthropy. Nonprofits can easily access it by building a culture of organizational friends and leaning on them during the challenging times.
“When you’re down and troubled and you need a helping hand and nothing, whoa nothing is going right...Winter, spring, summer, or fall, all you have to do is call and I’ll be there, yeah, yeah, you’ve got a friend.” Carole King wrote those lyrics in 1971, and James Taylor made them a hit in the song, “You’ve Got a Friend,” in the same year. A friend is indeed someone who comes to your aid, when there seems little hope. This is the exact role that your donors want to play for your organization.
While you hope that your donors are like that friend, you can increase the odds in your favor. Cultivation or building a strong relationship or friendship is the key to developing donors that want to stand by you. Although it is a part of any fundraising cycle, it is often the most fun – especially if you love people. The cultivation process is simply getting to know why your donor prioritizes your organization and then sharing organizational moments that connect with that why.
This occurs just as you would spend time with a new acquaintance and learn their preferences, stories, and personality as a means of becoming friends with them. Moving a prospect to a committed donor or friend happens when you treat them as a person that you would like to know. This can be done via donor conversations or at a larger scale in email surveys. You can ask your donor directly why your organization is important to them. Most committed donors have a personal story that makes them feel emotionally connected to your work, and they are happy to share, when you ask them.
Communicate with your donors as you would update a friend. If someone is truly your friend, you are comfortable sharing when things are going well and when there are challenges. Do the same with your donors. Letting them know when you are experiencing organizational challenges enables them to be more than an ATM and offers them a chance to provide a meaningful solution.
Acknowledge their milestones as well. Donors have birthdays, anniversaries, children’s milestones, etc. When you note those and acknowledge them in even a brief text, email, or call, you make your donor feel as though their happiness matters to your organization. In our busy world that matters much more than you can imagine.
Reach out to donors in a myriad of ways including texts, phone, social media, birthday cards, handwritten notes, etc. It does not need to be formal or calculated. Authentic connections signify their importance to your organization, and donors give because they want to matter. It also should come from a variety of people within the organization and not just the development staff or executive director. Communication from a board member can naturally make a donor feel special, because someone on staff had to share with that board member. This means the donor was being talked about in an appreciative way.
The really magical element of cultivation and creating an organizational friend is that when you become a friend to your donor first, your prospect is more likely to become a committed giver to your cause.
As Carole King and James Taylor say, “ain’t it good to know that you’ve got a friend?” As we here at Fullanthropy say, “ain’t it great to know that you can always create a friend and a donor?”
Fullanthropy Perspective:
Every donor database can tell you how much someone gave and when. Almost none of them can tell you why. That gap is not a data problem. It is a friendship problem, and no CRM has ever solved it.
The CLAIM Your Legacy™ framework places cultivation at the heart of the C pillar because connection cannot be automated, only earned. A donor who is managed will give once. A donor who is known will give for decades and tell others why they should give.
Ready to build that kind of donor friendship? Chart Your Impact™.