Start with Gratitude.
It’s that time of year. Things are cooling off. Fall is well and truly here. And it’s time to get rolling on your year end campaign. From here on out, Fridays 4 Fundraising will have one tip for you to make sure you’re moving your year end campaign forward.
But first, gratitude!
You know that friend who hits you up for money or favors all the time, and then disappears into the ether until they need something else? Don’t be that friend. Make sure your donors know the impact they’ve had on your organization this year BEFORE you ask them for their year-end contribution.
In my fundraising practice, October is for gratitude. While we are working on getting year end campaigns up and running for clients, we’re already executing gratitude campaigns. We’re reaching out to say thanks. We’re updating donors. We’re hosting volunteer days. We’re giving tours of our facilities. We’re bringing the donors in so they can see and feel the work so that when we ask them for donations next month, they are ready to give.
Again, we tend to think about donors in terms of transactions…their usefulness to our organization. But I want to challenge you to think differently.
Sustainable fundraising programs are built on relationships with donors. When we have donors that are truly part of our mission–they contribute both their dollars and their time, talent, expertise or other non-monetary things–then we have a donor community. When donors are in community with our organization, their contribution becomes part of their identity. They don’t “donate to ABC Organization,” they are “ABC Organization donors.”
Here are some examples of how to show gratitude in mission-centered ways this October:
For an organization providing residential group homes for individuals with disabilities, we’re hosting a fall yard refresh where donors can come work with the group home residents to rake leaves, plant fall flowers, and set up some patio furniture.
For an organization providing mental health crisis support, we’re hosting a house party with board members so donors can get to know the organization’s leadership.
For an organization providing mentorships to neurodivergent kids, we’re giving tours of a new space that they just took over and are refurbishing to be a safe hangout for neurodiverse teens. (We’ll be soliciting donations to the refurbishment for year-end.)
YOUR HOMEWORK
Your task is to figure out one or two opportunities to show gratitude for your donors. I encourage you not to “add a thing” to your calendar. Rather look at what your organization is already doing, and figure out how to incorporate donors into the things you already are doing or things that you need done. Don’t go “above and beyond” to thank your donors, show them the impact of their gift–and that means bringing them into your day-to-day.
What can you come up with that will help them understand why your organization is so critical, and therefore why their financial support is so important? Donors don’t want tote bags, they want trust. They don’t want acknowledgement, they want engagement. What will you do to bring them in BEFORE you solicit their financial support?
When we focus on the transaction we hope to get, we actually lose sight of the bigger picture…the lifelong relationship we’re trying to build with our donor so they give year-after-year, not just this year.
