The Art of Donor Cultivation

As an event planning company dedicated to assisting nonprofit clients in their fundraising efforts, we are often asked by many of our clients the perennial question: “How can we do better in our fundraising?” It is no secret that fundraising is a business and as such subject to the same dynamics as many other businesses. The challenge for many of our clients is to evergreen the process in order to ensure that their fundraising goals are met—or exceeded. Here are some golden rules:

Learn About Your Donors

Donors are the lifeblood of nonprofits. Without loyal and dedicated donors, most initiatives of many nonprofits could suffer or be severely curtailed.  So, getting to know the principal donors becomes critical in the nonprofits’ ability to sustain viable operations.  To get to know the donors, here are some key questions:

• What programs do they care about?

• What motivates them to give?

• What other causes do they support?

• How engaged do they feel toward your organization?

• What are their views on how you take their views into account?

• How important is the cause for them?

• What suggestions do they have for your organization [anything].

Clearly, you can’t reach all donors or be able to have meaningful interactions with all of them. In that case, effective outreach tools must be devised to “survey” a larger pool of donors.

It’s All About Retention 

Let’s face it, regardless of the cause or the level of efforts you put in producing a fundraising event, there are donors that are “captured” somewhat at random. Maybe it was your celebrity appearance, or the venue, or a friend arm-twisted a donor to attend your gala event and/or make a generous donation. For many nonprofits, to secure a new donor is a challenging task indeed.  It is, therefore, far more cost effective to put most of your efforts into retention strategies.  

Converting a first-time donor to make subsequent donations is—or should be—the No. 1 task in donor engagement.  Take a closer look at your donors—especially first-time donors. They make up a valuable pool of possible regular donors. While only about 20% of first-time donors are typically retained, nearly 65% of repeat donors are retained.  To convert that 20% into the 65% pool, a number of steps must be taken: 

• Reach out to the first-time donors. 

• Find out why they made their donation. 

• What in your mission appeals to them?

• How can you get them more engaged?

• What are their broader gifting goals?

Devise An Outreach Plan 

Different donors have different motivations for giving. A blanket fit-all strategy does not work. However, there are still some basic questions that can capture the bulk of most donors’ motivations on the basis of which a cultivation strategy can be devised. Questions such as their capacity, inclination, prior giving, and interests. Every new donor presents your organization with a goldmine that can be a potential source of reliable giving.

Make It Personal

It is no secret that there is stiff competition for any donor’s gifts—and their commitment to any cause. Make your donors feel special. Put in place steps that recognize all major donors. Here are some tips:

• Thank them for their donation personally.

• Make a point of periodically stopping by to renew your acquaintance.

• Ensure that your appeal or acknowledgment make your donor feel great about themselves.

• Make all your communication feel personal [i.e., no form letters].

• To the extent possible, call your donors to enhance the engagement [i.e., don’t hide behind an email or letter].

• Inject genuine sincerity in all your interactions with your donors.

Putting It All Together

Regardless of the cause, nonprofits rely heavily on donors to be able to carry out their planned programs. Donors are one of the key stakeholders; lifeblood of the work nonprofits do; and a source of continuous encouragement and motivation for nonprofit executives. However, the work of nonprofits when it comes to donor cultivation never ends. It is the constant in any nonprofit’s activities.  The success of any fundraising event or the wellbeing of the nonprofit depends heavily on how it goes about to secure and retain donors.

Let the professionals at Your Great Event help you roll out a durable and effective donor cultivation strategy.

YGE helps FF raise more than $500k

At a star-studded event in the heart of Beverly Hills, Your Great Event rolled out an actual red carpet to welcome a celebrity crowd that had gathered to show their support for a very worthy cause. Face Forward has set as its mission to provide emotional support and pro bono reconstructive surgery for victims of domestic violence, war crimes and any other degrading criminal acts. To raise needed funds for this worthy cause, Face Forward recruited the services of event planning professionals at Your Great Event, that took care of all logistical needs of an event of this caliber including celebrity lineup and silent and live auctions of prized donations. 

The emcee for the event was no less than Jeremy Piven, the comedian and the Entourage star, who had the pleasant task of calling to stage such big names as The Grammy award winner Ne-Yo, who got everyone on their feet to boogie the night away. Caitlyn Jenner gave a moving account of what the trans members of our society have to endure in their everyday lives. 

For this one-of-a-kind event Your Great Event had secured Beverley Wilshire, a Four Seasons Hotel, which proved to be a fitting venue given the caliber of the audience. “It was gratifying” said Hanson Ansary, CEO of Your Great Event, “to see our client FF CEO Deborah Alessi, being recognized for her heart-warming commitment to this cause. At Your Great Event, we draw a great deal of satisfaction from our non-profit clients’ success at their fundraising events. We remain committed” continued Ansary, “to help our clients with their outreach programs.”

Founded over 20 years ago, Your Great Event is the only event planning company solely dedicated to helping the non-profit sector.

Press:

The Hollywood Reporter

Fox News

Just Jared

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Managing Volunteers at Nonprofit Organizations

Nonprofit organizations rely very heavily on the dedication of volunteers.  Volunteers are the backbone of many nonprofits.  To benefit from this potentially-vast resource, nonprofits must have a “volunteer management system” in place.  Much like employees, volunteers expect their work to be truly engaging and rewarding.  There are strategies that can elevate the volunteers’ experience and help with volunteer retention while allowing the nonprofit organization attain its larger goals.   

1.     Organization’s Goals

By nature [and applicable statutes], nonprofits are purpose driven; and are thus expected to have more focused goals.  An organization’s overall raison d’être is what draws volunteers to one nonprofit as opposed to another.  Volunteers must relate to and embrace the organization’s primary purpose to feel a sense of lasting commitment.  Harvesting the volunteer force also requires a set of distinct goals of its own.  Volunteer management must be carried out in a disciplined and focused manner to create a harmonious interconnection between volunteers and the organization.  The more organizational involvement for the volunteers, the better the retention rate.       

2.     Volunteer Recruitment Plans

Nonprofits rely heavily on the availability of volunteers for many of their essential tasks.  Few nonprofits can afford to do away with volunteers or replace them with paid staff.  How does a nonprofit go about finding and recruiting suitable and qualified volunteers?  One possible pool is the donor list.  With proper coaching and inspiration, many non-volunteers could be prospective candidates as volunteers.  In general, by seeing all your organization’s supporters as potential volunteers, you’ll be able to develop deeper relationships with passionate individuals who really consider themselves a part of your nonprofit as a whole.  By ignoring donors or members as potential volunteers, a nonprofit could be inadvertently shutting out a heavily-impactful group.

3.     The Role of Technology

Technology has permeated every aspect of our lives.  Managing the volunteer program (recruitment, onboarding, retention and recognition) is no exception.  There are simple and complex purpose-driven applications for any and all aspects of volunteer management as are more generic CRM software that can be adapted to help an organization in this important task.  The right volunteer management software can help the organization to store volunteer data and empower it to amplify its understanding of volunteer management.  In its core, even a simple volunteer management application should have the following important attributes:

• Time-keeping capabilities. Staying on top of volunteer hours can be a major burden without the help of a proper tool. With the right application, a nonprofit should be able to more accurately capture and track volunteer activity (and view/retain it in one centralized location).

• Detailed volunteer profiles. To help the volunteers succeed in their roles, it’s important that the organization understands their personalities and needs. The right software can enable the nonprofit to maintain all volunteer data, including communication preferences, contact information, volunteer history, and relevant skills or interests—and retrieve same when needed.

• Volunteer communications. Automate and send individual or batch emails directly through the right software.

4.     Volunteer Recognition Program

While volunteers give of their time and expertise because they believe in the cause, it does not mean that the organization should take their involvement for granted.  To retain and earn the loyalty of the volunteer workforce, an organization must develop a systematic practice of showing proper gratitude to volunteers for their services.  While thanking volunteers every time they serve is a good gesture, the organization’s gratitude must be shown in as many ways as possible to result in lasting loyalty and retention.  Like everyone else, volunteers want to know that they’re valued.

To go beyond verbal or written thank-you notes, an organization must invest in an engaging appreciation program including:

• Social Media. Social media makes it easy to connect with volunteers. Consider posting regular volunteer announcements on your organization’s Facebook or Twitter page. Or, dedicate a full page on your nonprofit website to highlighting your volunteers as a whole.

• Broadcast. What have your volunteers done for your organization? Broadcast it! Share how specific volunteer involvement has impacted the world around them, in small or large ways.

• Volunteer appreciation events. The internet is a great place to extend gratitude to your volunteers, but there is also value to in-person events. Recognize your volunteers at purpose-planned and exciting appreciation events.

• Developing an effective volunteer management can be a challenging task. However, it is imperative for nonprofits to have an appropriate program to be able to manage and benefit from engaged and enthusiastic volunteers—a potentially vast, valuable—and free—resource.

Your Great Event is a national event planning company dedicated solely to the needs of nonprofit organizations.  Let us help you put in place an effective volunteer management program.