“The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated.” ~ William James

It’s a giving time of year. People are volunteering their time at food banks, and at their place of worship, coats are being collected for those less fortunate, gifts are being purchased for families who may not otherwise receive a holiday gift and of course many, many financial contributions are being made.

People give more during these last two months of the year than any other time.

While most will tell you that they don’t need or want any acknowledgment and they certainly don’t need a big deal made about their efforts – most people DO need to know their contributions are appreciated. Don’t believe them when they tell you they don’t need any acknowledgement. Do SOMETHING, even if it’s small, to make sure those who are giving to your organization KNOW that you appreciate them.

The act of appreciation can be small and not cost you much. But do it. Take the time to keep the giver engaged and connected to you and those you serve.

I gave a financial contribution to an organization earlier this summer and in the last two weeks made another small contribution. I received the obligatory thank you tax receipt letter from them each time. What gave me pause was that I received the exact same letter both times – 4 months apart.

What that told me is they have a “form” letter that someone drafts and it doesn’t get updated very often. And no one is paying attention to keeping the appreciation fresh and meaningful. Hmmm. I guess my gift is just one of many that they receive and it doesn’t really matter so much. That’s the thought I had when I got the 2^nd letter.

Some inexpensive ways to make appreciation meaningful:

• Have a phone call made by a board member or volunteer to those who make gifts at a certain dollar amount and higher. This lets me know that someone noticed my gift and that it really is appreciated.
• Have clients hand write a thank you note that gets photocopied and included with the “form” letter.
• Make sure if people are making multiple contributions a year both financially and of their time or in-kind gifts that you are sending DIFFERENT letters of acknowledgment.
• Use your donor tracking system to keep track of which letter gets sent or who made the thank you call – so you can keep it fresh each time. One I suggest and use myself is Trail Blazer Non-profit Manager.
• Invite key donors, with a personal phone call invitation, to the “holiday” event your organization is holding for those you serve – if you have such an event. The phone call invite alone makes this meaningful even if the person doesn’t attend the event. And keep the invite to having them attend for just a short “stop by” at a pre-designated time. 

There are many more was to keep acknowledgement meaningful and inexpensive. What are yours?

This checklist was created and shared at the Dynamite Data = Money mini training on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 in Minneapolis. Watch for the live webinar of this session to be offered in January 2010.

I suggest you use this list to allow your donor data to tell you next steps of who to contact and where to focus your time.

DATA CHECKLIST

    ___Who has been giving? For how long?

    ___Know your LYBUNT donors (Last Year But Unfortunately Not This
          Year) & SYBUNTs (Some Years But Unfortunately Not This Year).

    ___What do we define as a major gift?

    ___What’s our retention rate?

    ___What’s our acquisition rate?

    ___Why did they start giving?

    ___With which current donors should you focus your time? 

    ___How many personal (phone or in-person meeting) contacts do you
          have annually?

    ___Who are you meeting with? Calling?

    ___Are you tracking the board activity of calls & meetings with donors
          or prospects? 

During this time of year when donors are making thoughtful choices about where to give, it is important to give them a reason to stay connected to you. Keep your messages short, timely, and make sure your communication lets your donors why YOUR organization should remain a priority in their giving.

Watch for those who have fallen off in their giving and reach out to them with a special message inviting them to return. And most of all, make sure your contacts with donors are personal: phone or in person. Personal contacts make a difference!

What DOES “building the pipeline” really mean? It means knowing and getting known by enough people to support the work of your organization with their time, advice, tangible goods or financial support.

I recently spoke on a panel about this topic and was surprised to find organizations having 2000, 5000 and even 8000 active donors were very concerned about the pipeline but they couldn’t tell me their donor retention rate or the names of their top 20 donors.

If you have a pipeline issue, you have a communication issue.

While acquisition is important to focus on the reality is you simply may not be paying enough attention to your current donors.

First note your retention rate. Figuring out your retention rate is pretty simple: Count the number of donors you have in a 12-month period of time. Then count the number of donors you have in the prior 12-month period and compare. If you have 6000 donors giving in the prior 12-months and you have 3000 now your overall retention rate is 50%.

You may also want to identify your retention rate in three separate donor segments:

• Donors who have given for multiple-years.
  (Generally higher retention rates.)
• New, or first-year donors.
  (Generally 40% lower than multi-year donors.)
• Reactivated donors.  
  (Somewhere in between 1^st time or multi-year donors.)

Once you know the retention rate in these donor segments you can start to focus your time and your messages.

Tips for maintaining a healthy pipeline AND retaining current donors:

• 1. Share what you need the money for. How many of your current donors & volunteers understand clearly what it is you need to raise money for? Do you share the cost of your programs for one week for one child or one adult? A donor recently told me, “If the organizations I support were not just saying they need money but they tell me why and what impact that money will have, I may give even more.”
  
• 2. Personally contact as many multiple-year donors each year as possible. Utilize board members and community volunteers to help you. Contacts can be thank you calls, invitation calls or simply a “getting to know more about you” call or meeting.
• 3. Meaningful acknowledgement can have a huge impact on your pipeline. That means timely meaningful thank you letters. I also suggest thank you calls to donors made by both staff or board members.
• 4. Invitations to events should say more than “Join us!” Give a compelling reason for guests to attend and remind them of the need in your community.
  A great example of compelling copy on an invitation:
  One in three homeless men in Cleveland is a veteran.
  We think ONE is too many.
  
• 5. At events be sure to share about any gap in your current funding along with a compelling story about how amazing your programs are. If you only show all the “good work” and positive outcomes donors don’t see a place for themselves.

Regular communication ALL YEAR LONG that is compelling and shows your impact can have huge value in both retaining and generating new donors.

Even a small increase in your donor retention can generate greater dollars raised over time. Adrian Sargeant, Ph.D., from the Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy says:

“A 10% increase in donor retention can increase the lifetime value of the donor database up to 200%. When people stay around they do things like upgrade their gifts, [give more often], contribute to galas and even volunteer.”

This is the time of year when a little extra attention may make the difference between a contribution or none. Go ahead: Take the time to personally connect with donors and prospects TODAY.