how & why to engage your board in stewardship practices rebecca jacobson, mph scanpo weekly...
TRANSCRIPT
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How & Why to Engage Your Boardin Stewardship Practices
Rebecca Jacobson, MPH
SCANPO Weekly Wednesday Webinar, August 19, 2015
www.developmentforgood.com
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Today’s Goal
To introduce a paradigm shift
regarding fundraising.
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Donor Retention is a critical aspect of
fundraising and must be an active concern
and priority for all nonprofits.
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Poll #1
Does your organization ever look at
or talk about Donor Retention rates?
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Training Objectives
1. To provide enough justification to convince you and your Board to begin talking about Donor Retention.
2. To convince you to calculate your organization’s Donor Retention rate over the past several years.
3. To give you a starting place for effective and “doable” Donor Stewardship practices that you are comfortable asking Board members to engage in.
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About Rebecca
After 20+ years in nonprofit, launched Development for Good
Why development consulting?
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Attendee Overview
19 Executive Director/CEO’s 19 Development Staff 3 Marketing/PR/Programs 2 Board members 7 Other
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Sectors Represented
2 Arts 2 Consulting 4 Business 4 Conservation 6 Health services 6 Youth Services 8 Education (Lower & Higher) 9 Human services
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Donor Stewardship – What is It?
The administration of gifts
The ongoing relationship with a donor after a gift has been made
A process by which the organization develops a relationship with a donor and strengthens and preserves that relationship over time
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Donor stewardship is about
relationship building which leads to
deeper donor commitment and more
long-term financial support.
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Why Current Donors Matter
The average nonprofit has: a 60-70% chance of obtaining additional
contributions from existing donors
a 20-40% chance of securing a gift from a recently lapsed donor
less than a 2% chance of receiving a gift from a prospect
- Roger Craver, “Retention Fundraising” (2014)
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Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP)
Established in 2006 by Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute
Conducts research on fundraising effectiveness
Publishes the annual Fundraising Effectiveness Project Survey
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Donor Retention Over the Past Decade
2006: 50%
2013: 39%, lowest rate in 8 years
2014: 43%, first upward trend in since the
2007 drop
- 2014 Fundraising Effectiveness Project
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Donor Retention2012-2013 Fundraising Year
3,576 survey respondents
Median Donor Retention: 43%
- First-time Donor Retention: 23%
For every 100 new and recovered donors, 102 were lost through attrition
- 2014 Fundraising Effectiveness Project
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Calculating Donor Retention Rates
Need to work with your database administrator
May need to utilize software technical support to figure out how to pull the right comparative data
If you don’t have a donor database, it could be labor intensive; get help from a volunteer, intern, or Board member
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All Donors Retention Rate
1. Get your donor count from 2 consecutive full years (number of unique donors, not number of donations).
2. Count the number of donors who gave to your organization in year one (e.g., 2013).
3. Count the number of donors from the same pool who gave in the second year (2014). This does not include new donors in year 2.
4. Divide #2 by #1.
5. This is your retention rate from year 1 to year 2.
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First-time Donor Retention Rate
1. From the same 2 years, count the number of first-time donors in the first year (again, number of unique donors, not number of donations from them).
2. Count the number of donors from the same pool who gave in the second year (2014).
3. Divide #2 by #1.
4. This is your first-time donor retention rate from year 1 to year 2.
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Look at Your Retention TrendsOver Several Years
How do you compare to the median from the 2014 Fundraising Effectiveness Project?
– 43% all donors– 23% first-time donors
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Donor Retention Impact
A 10% upward trend in donor retention can
DOUBLE the lifetime value of donor giving.
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“Taking positive steps to reduce donor and gift losses is the least expensive strategy for
increasing net fundraising gains.”
- 2014 Fundraising Effectiveness Project
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Questions/Comments?
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More of the Paradigm Shift:
Donor Stewardship should be an
ongoing fundraising activity.
All year long, all the time.
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Why Engage Board Members
Stewardship is an imperative yet
“non-ask” fundraising activity.
Eliminates the “I’m not comfortable
asking for money” barrier.
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Where to Start: Thank You Calls!
When donors received a thank you call from a board member within 24 hours of the
organization receiving the gift, the donorgave 39% more (on their next gift) than the other
donors who did not receive a call.
- Penelope Burk
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How to Engage Board Members
Start with buy-in from your board leadership
And start small
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Educate Your Leaders about Importance of Donor Retention
Share the research and your retention rates with Development Chair and Board Officers
Get buy-in to add “Donor Stewardship” as an ongoing fundraising activity
Request that someone be named (or volunteer) as Stewardship Chairperson (someone who is strong at and comfortable with relationship building)
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Add Donor Retention as an Agenda Item at the Next Board Meeting
Share the research and your retention rates
Explain Stewardship as a “non-ask” fundraising task
Ask for a Stewardship volunteers; must be comfortable making calls and/or hand-writing thank you notes
Stewardship should become part of every fundraising discussion at board meetings; volunteers should share their stories about the phone calls and what they learned
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Stewardship Volunteers
Need to be responsive on short notice
Can articulate your organization's mission and talk about programs and services
Need phone callers AND note writers
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Establish Stewardship Tracking System
Staff person who administers donations must supply donor info to Stewardship volunteers and record outcomes
Keep is simple but consistent
Record in donor’s database record: the steward, date/method contacted, any info or feedback provided by the steward
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Basics of a Donor Thank You Call
NO ASKING!! For money, in-kind, event attendance, etc.
Seeking a basic human connection
Try to understand donor’s motives and interest in your organization
Take notes to be entered into donor database
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Stewardship Priorities
1. First-time Donors
2. Loyal / long-term Donors
3. “Large” Donors
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First-time Donor Thank You Call
– A 5 minute call; perfect for Board members!– Suggested Script:
Introduce yourself and your role in organization Thank you for your recent donation of $XX Why did you choose to give to our organization? How can we make you feel your donation was
worthwhile? Do you have any questions about programs &
services? End with another Thank You
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Long-term / Loyal Donor Thank You Calls
– Suggest donors who have given every year for past 3-5 years– A 10-minute call; staff should provide donor’s giving history– Suggested Script:
Introduce yourself and your role in organization We’re reaching out to our long-term supporters just to call
and say thank you for supporting us. Why did you originally start giving to our organization? ASK THEIR OPINION: do you have any suggestions of
things we can be doing better? Do you have any questions about our programs & services? Thank You
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Large Donor Thank You Calls
– Development staff, Development Committee, ED and/or Board should decide minimum giving level for calls
– A 10 minute call– Suggested Script:
Introduce yourself and your role in organization Thank you for your recent donation of $XX, our Board
wants you to know how much we appreciate your support.
Why did you choose to give to our organization? How can we make you feel your donation was
worthwhile? Do you have any questions about programs & services? Thank you
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If the Phone Call Goes Longer and Becomes Engaging
Take an interest in learning about the donor
Be a good listener and take notes to pass back to staff for the donor database record
Share about yourself, personal and what you love about the organization
Try to make a sincere connection
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If You Don’t Reach the Donor by Phone
Leave a detailed voice message!
Include your name, connection to the organization, reason for your call (thank you!) and your call-back number with an invitation to give you a call back
Consider making a second call a few days later at a different time, especially for “larger” contributions
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When You Don’t Have a Phone Number for Your Donor
Write a note!
– Use personal note card, NOT organization’s stationary
– Hand-write, don’t type
– Same premise and content as thank you call but a hand-written note instead
– Invite donor to give you a call and include your call-back number
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Keep the Conversation Going
Have Stewardship volunteers share their donor conversations at every Board meeting
Development staff and leaders keep up with Donor Retention research and best practices and share with the Board
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Set Retention Goals
Ideally, your Board will vote on an annually retention goal for all and first-time donors
Calculate annually as part of year-end processing
Report and discuss with the Board along with year-end financial reports
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Organizational Differences
Modify these Stewardship approaches
for your organization’s size
and Board capacity.
But start somewhere!
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Final Word on Stewardship
“The only way to truly steward your donors
is to draw them into a deeper relationship
with your organization. Deep relationships
require a give and take, and a greater
association than simply writing checks.”
- Joe Garecht, www.thefundraisingauthority.com
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My Consulting Services
Facilitate board discussion or basic development training starting at $350
Provide more in-depth training or Board retreat on Fundraising Best Practices
Write Fundraising/Development Plan
Work with staff to establish stewardship practices and systems
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Poll #2
Based on what your heard today,
how likely is it that you will try to calculate
your Donor Retention rates for the most
recent fundraising year?
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Questions/Comments?