A donor makes a year-end gift. The receipt goes out, and then, at many organizations, the relationship goes quiet until the next appeal arrives in the fall. By then the donor has half-forgotten why the gift felt worth making. Two of the most common reasons donors stop giving have nothing to do with money and…
In a traditional fundraising operation, the evidence that a longtime donor might still be listening gets scattered across four different places. Gift records are in the database. Event attendance might be tracked in a spreadsheet on someone’s desktop. Email opens stay in the email platform. Social media engagement either goes untracked or ends up in…
Every development operation has donors whose deepest loyalty is hiding in plain sight. Consider a fictitious donor we’ll call David Park. He has given to his local food bank every year for six consecutive years, always to general operations, always in response to the year-end appeal. He attends the annual dinner. He opens every email….
Too many development shops fumble the most critical moment in a donor relationship. A new donor gives through the fall email appeal, and the typical experience starts with an automated receipt from the payment processor, then silence for a few weeks, then a spot on the mailing list, and eventually a year-end appeal identical to…
Every development office has donors who gave faithfully for years and then quietly stopped. Buried in the records are supporters who gave six consecutive years, totaling over $4,000, whose last gift was 14 months ago. Nobody on the team noticed. Nobody called. The giving just stopped, the way a friendship fades when nobody picks up…
Every fundraiser knows the sinking feeling. A loyal donor gave two weeks ago and still hasn’t heard from anyone beyond an automated receipt. A major gift prospect’s visit is Thursday, and the preparation hasn’t started. A lapsed couple quietly drifted away months ago, and nobody noticed. When the portfolio holds dozens or hundreds of relationships,…