In
years gone by charity donors would put a few coins into a
collection tin and receive a simple smile and thank you from
the charity’s representative by way of appreciation.
But as giving methods have become more sophisticated so have
donor care strategies – or at least they should be doing.
In an increasingly cluttered and competitive market, charities
can no longer afford to rest on their laurels once they have
acquired new donors – they need to work hard to make
sure they keep hold of them.
Many charities are well versed in saying thank you for the
donations they receive and keeping donors informed of the
work they do, but real, high quality donor care requires more
than this. Like customers in the commercial sector, charity
donors need to feel valued and understood if they are to keep
coming back to part with more of their cash or time.
Building a relationship with donors and understanding how
they want to be communicated with is clearly important. For
example, Breast Cancer Campaign (BCC) director of fundraising
Amanda Williams says: “We are an event-led charity and
have a lot of contact with our supporters over the phone as
this is often the preferred method of contact. We aim to build
one-to-one relationships with donors so, where possible, they
will know someone at the charity.”
BCC has doubled in size over the past two years and is now
regarded as a mid-sized charity, however Williams is keen
for it to maintain its ‘family feel’ to allow
supporters to better relate to it.
Friends of the Earth also regards donor care as hugely important
to the success of the organisation and has two teams dedicated
to the cause. Ruth Ruderham, its head of supporter development,
explains: “We have an inbound processing team which
looks after incoming donations and enquiries from those who
want to take action and need to find out what they can do.”
This team focuses mainly on email and postal contact while
the second team is mainly concerned with telephone engagement.
Ruderham says the organisation has also been working on a
major project to determine how to better understand and engage
with its supporters and, ultimately, boost its fundraising
efforts. “Donors are thanked for their donations but
on top of that they also receive a welcome pack explaining
what else they can do. This also goes to new activists and
enquirers,” she says.
She says the early results from the project are positive,
and that it seems people will increase their support of FoE
if they can vary what they do.
Defining donor care
Institute of Fundraising chief executive Lindsay Boswell
believes that in order to develop a successful donor care
strategy, charities need to define exactly what donor care
means to them. He says that different charities will have
different forms of donor care depending on the culture of
the organisation and where fundraising is positioned within
it.
“Donor care has come to the fore as there is now a
greater emphasis on better managing donors as it is becoming
increasingly difficult to recruit new ones,” he says.
“On top of this there is a growing sense of professionalism
within fundraising and standards are rising.”
And it is not just the larger charities that are looking
for innovative ways to look after their donors, proving
that effective donor care doesn’t have to form part
of an expensive strategy. As an example of a smaller charity,
Welsh children’s hospice Ty Hafan, has developed its
own successful donor care regime.
“We always write a personalised thank you letter for
the donations we receive and we send out a newsletter three
times a year to as many people as possible,” explains
interim director of fundraising and marketing Elizabeth
Read. “We also have a number of volunteers and friends
groups and two dedicated members of staff who look after
them, offering training and inductions, for example.”
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On top of this the charity has three people working in the
regions who are always out meeting people and speaking in
various places including churches, the Women’s Institute
and bike clubs. Read says they are well known in the community
and that people often donate for them as much as for the
charity itself.
Because of its limited geographical reach a lot of the charity’s
donors are local businesses and Ty Hafan is keen to look
after them as well. “Some are very generous,”
says Read. “And they often want to get their staff
involved and encourage them to volunteer, so we have had
companies come to the hospice and do the gardening as an
away day activity, for instance.”
The businesses then become advocates for the brand as well,
which gives the charity access to further potential donors.
Ty Hafan also holds events, such as its Butterfly Ball,
which enables both businesses and individuals to really
engage with the brand.
Meanwhile BCC hosts a ‘thank you’ event each
year to boost relationships with donors. This year saw someone
who organises a walk on Hampstead Heath every year receive
the lifetime achievement award, while an award was given
out for ‘wear it pink’ fundraiser of the year,
among others. This no doubt helps supporters engage with
the brand and, ultimately, donate more time or money.
In terms of saying thank you as part of an ongoing strategy,
the charity tries to thank everyone within 48 hours of receiving
a donation. Williams notes: “This is well received
as donors see that we turn things around quickly which proves
we are efficient. It also shows them that their donation
is important.”
Williams believes donor care is extremely important in such
a hugely competitive market and that it is no doubt evolving.
She comments: “Segmentation is often more advanced
in the commercial sector and this is where the future lies
for charities too. We can’t be a one-stop shop, and
that includes events. We segment our audiences and don’t
necessarily contact everyone in the same way to inform them
about a new event – people will have different motivators.”
Moving forward
The Institute of Fundraising’s Boswell believes the
online environment also offers considerable opportunities
for donor care now and in the future.
“There is so much interest in the new media arena,”
he says. “The MySpace generation is under-represented
in giving terms so being able to seek them out and build
relationships with them online could be vital.
“Meanwhile the spontaneous nature of SMS gives us
a glimpse of what donor care may look like in the future.
The development of mobile phone technology means spontaneous
giving with payments made through the mobile could become
commonplace within five years.”
However, while most charities say they do have a donor care
policy in place and do view it as an integral part of their
fundraising strategy, FoE’s Ruderham believes effective
donor care is a detailed process which involves a lot of
work. “Too many people simply pay lip service to donor
care rather than doing it properly,” she says.
“You need to have dedicated teams in place who understand
that donor care is their job. At FoE we are also making
sure donor care evolves across the whole organisation so
that no matter who someone speaks to they will receive the
highest level of customer service.”
It makes sense that those donors that feel valued and well
looked after will naturally become more loyal to the brand,
thus boosting their lifetime value to the charity. They
will also then, hopefully, become greater advocates for
the organisation, something which is invaluable for many
charities.
Ultimately, in order for donor care to be successful, the
donor needs to feel in control of the relationship and be
communicated with in a manner that suits them. And for different
charities the ways in which they implement an effective
donor care strategy will no doubt vary according to how
the donor was recruited, what motivates them and how they
want to support the charity.
As Ty Hafan’s Read points out: “No single thing
is the answer. It is the mix of activity that produces the
result and creates the donation.”
Retaining existing donors is clearly less expensive than
recruiting new ones so it makes good business sense for
charities to invest in effective donor care strategies.
After all, it seems that those that don’t will ultimately
pay the highest price.
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