Donor Comms Discord, Pt. 1
Donor stewardship Metrics
Where did everybody go?
In the past few years, the amount of money raised online has skyrocketed. Email has allowed nonprofit organizations to reach donors more frequently with less expense. As fundraisers, we’re aware that the number one reason people don’t give is that they’re not asked. So we’ve embraced our digital tools and we’ve learned to ask… ask… ask.
Eventually, we recognized that there were consequences to this strategy. Donor relationships felt increasingly transactional, unsubscribes grew, list sizes dropped, and the number of gifts per email declined.
Subsequent investments were made in donor stewardship programs to reverse this trend but many of them were born from the same flawed vision that hinders annual reports… look how great we are!
The fundamental principle of fundraising is relationship-building. The same mass communication tools we’ve used to drum up revenue can also be used to bring our stakeholders closer. But not if our stewardship messages are disconnected from development efforts. Overly optimistic emails and overzealous lists of accomplishments undermine our case for support.
Reporting back to our donors is critical if we’re going to build successful relationships and I’m grateful to see more organizations taking strides to elevate every donor, regardless of gift size.
But don’t gamble the trust you’ve built. Communicate often (probably more than planned), celebrate successes, be transparent about the work yet to be done, and be sure you’re tracking the right metrics for your donor stewardship program.
The number of stewardship efforts ain’t it…
Is your donor retention rate rising or falling?
Are more of your donors giving monthly?
Are they giving more year over year?
And perhaps most importantly, how do they feel about your organization.
Are you transparent with your donors about your organization’s impact?
Do they know how you measure it?
Do they feel valued for their contribution to it?
These metrics will take time to collect but, in time, they’ll tell a more accurate story about the effectiveness of our donor stewardship efforts.
