Last Look : An Interview With David Duncan, Director of Membership and Development, Civil War Preservation Trust

November 2009 By Joe Boland

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We are also looking at ways to get great historical content to people via phone technology so that a battlefield visitor can not only access maps and narrations via their phones, but can also find out about battlefield preservation while actually visiting a battlefield. This is potentially a great way to reach a much wider audience at a significantly reduced cost, and at the exact moment they are ready for such a message.

FS: How would you describe your fundraising philosophy?
DD: We work under several key tenets; the main one we took directly from the former president of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Dan Jordan: “Good will above all.” To us that means always being the best possible stewards we can be of a donor’s generosity, maintaining good will with our supporters above all else. If you do that, our experience is that the money will take care of itself. I also operate under the philosophy that if you don’t spend at least as much time saying “thank you” as you do asking for money, then you aren’t doing it right. The final guiding principle is that fundraising success is all about building relationships, from the $25 donor to the $25,000 benefactor. This takes enormous amounts of time, but if you really put the effort into treating your donors as partners rather than just names in a database, often you won’t even have to ask for a gift — they will say, “What would you like me to do?” We do this even in our direct mail. By design, our letters are very personal in tone, and are often long and very detailed, filled with lots of information — we include battle maps of the land we’re trying to buy and often add historic images of the site contrasted with modern photos of the landscape. In this e-mail and Twitter age, long copy is often frowned upon, but by providing relevant content, we get consistently great results. And we’ve had many members tell us they actually look forward to receiving mail from us. They even bind the maps we create for our mailings and bring the collection with them when they visit battlefields. How many other organizations can say that?

FS: Can you describe a recent successful fundraising effort?
DD: I would describe all of 2009 as a successful effort, in that our membership base has not dropped since October of 2008, our revenue from appeals and membership is actually up slightly, and that our major donors don’t seem to be quite as gun-shy as they were this time last year. I believe our success is directly attributable to us maintaining a high level of quality and professionalism in our communications, a relentless focus on the mission, and our reputation for effectiveness and efficiency. These didn’t just happen in 2009; it is the culture of the organization that has been built up over time.

FS: Any major difficulties or setbacks you’ve faced along the way? Things you would do differently with your fundraising?
DD: We have never “cracked the code” for truly effective foundation or corporate fundraising. Also, again, still looking for that eight-figure, game-changing donor. If we had the resources, I would hire more people who could do one-on-one visits with donors. Those visits cement relationships and always produce good long-term results.

FS: What advice would you give to organizations similar to yours, in size and annual operating budget?
DD: First and foremost, smash all the silos. Now. If the planned giving department is fighting the major gift officers over prospects who come in through direct mail or the Web, you will never get anywhere. Next, don’t worry too much about “protecting” your best donors from getting your direct mail — unless they ask you to. I’ve had a million-dollar donor tell me that he looks forward to getting the battlefield maps we send out in our 50-cent mailings. We routinely get $1,000-plus gifts from our direct mail packages, and they are appearing on the Web site more and more often. Think about that — that’s a big-ticket purchase on a Web site! The key is to present relevant, informative, personal, engaging messages, and then your mailings or e-mail messages won’t be seen as an intrusion. Give your donors every opportunity to support your mission, and let them choose how much they want to participate.

FS: Additional thoughts?
DD: Everyone in an organization is a development officer. Even if they are not actively raising donations, every person’s job contributes to the bottom line, as long as they are engaged in creating a quality organization, which, in turn, makes it far easier for the fundraisers to “sell” your mission. Donors in this economy are cutting back to a core list of groups they are willing to support, and I believe they are looking for quality and effectiveness. You must exceed their expectations in every communication with them — mailings, Web site, newsletters, programs, events — or they will take their donations elsewhere.
 
Joe Boland is copy editor and staff writer for the Target Marketing Group at FS’ parent company, NAPCO. Reach him at jboland@napco.com