Donor Comms Discord, 3.

A bridge… over troubled water.

Covid 19 finally found its way into my household after more than two years of successfully avoiding it, and I can tell you, it’s not fun. We’re feeling better now, and I hope you find something valuable in the words below, despite the brain fog in which they were conceived. Thanks for reading.

Sewing the Divide.

So far, we’ve established that disingenuous stewardship and disconnect between departments create discord for your audience, and especially your donors.

So what do we do about it?

There’s no easy fix. It requires leadership across the organization, the patience to invest in long-term relationships with your constituents, and the courage to be authentic about your organization’s complex needs and the context they exist within.

Concepts like ROI, almost always measured solely in campaigns or budget years, have damaged the way we evaluate the performance of our fundraising efforts and our staff. Overall donor retention rates continue to hang below 50% and too often staff is evaluated solely on year-over-year metrics and annual budget goals. Bridging the divide requires strategic communications planning that is:

• Stakeholder-centric

• Mission-driven

• Long-term thinking over short-term metrics

• Authentically transparent
  

Stakeholder-Centric

For marketers and fundraisers, this means showing your audience you’re paying attention.

• What’s their relationship with your organization?

• Have they given before?

• Have they expressed interest in specific messages, products, or services you provide?

• Have they indicated a preference for a specific communications channel?

For senior management, this is a bit more challenging. Effective communications plans and goals require a central vision informed by every team affected. Without a guiding vision for communications strategy and buy-in, teams are pitted against each other.

Mission-Driven

It’s why we’re here. An effective communications strategy based on your organization’s purpose, aim, and goals, as outlined in your mission statement with a clear explanation of your audience (donors, prospects, volunteers, program participants, and staff) can help achieve those goals.

Long-term thinking, short-term planning

Communication plans need to be nimble. We live in a rapidly changing world and our communications must adapt to reflect our reality. Our goals, however, can benefit from assessing long-term measures like donor retention and conversion to sustaining giving. These are signs of a donor’s loyalty to your organization and present a truer reflection of your organization’s long-term sustainability.

Authentically Transparent

The key word here… authentic. Most nonprofit organizations do a terrific job of presenting their financials transparently and we’re all pretty clear about our funding needs in appeals. So why do we totally flip the script with so much of our donor stewardship?

We create dissonance by saying “look how great things are (thanks to YOU, of course!) and asking for an additional gift a moment later. Imagine a friend who spent the majority of their time telling how great everything in their world is, then asked you for money multiple times a year. At some point, you’d tune out the message and you’d stop supporting that friend.

Celebrating our organization’s successes and our donor’s role in those successes is encouraged. Let’s rethink the way we deliver these messages. Our audience will see through a disingenuous approach.

Bringing it all together…

It requires leadership with vision.

• Donor stewardship goals can only be measured over time. Investment in your stewardship program now and you will reap benefits from it in the future.

• Donor acquisition and “pipeline-building” should focus on your organization’s mission and service to the community. This is likely to be a slower build than gimmicks like “giveaways” but build a stronger donor file and will bring returns in retention and the value development of those donors.

• Unified vision and strong leadership hold more valuable than disparate goals. In fact, departmental goals create inter-organizational conflict in the absence of visionary, and mission-driven leadership.

For assistance with your donor communications and marketing planning, schedule a free consultation with Social Resonance today.