How to Lose Your Major Donors

Treat your best donors right — but don’t assume you know what that means until you’ve tested.

May 2008 By Jeff Brooks

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Now, I’m not saying the style of fundraising I’ve described above is a big loser. It’s not — except the part about communicating less; that’s a nearly guaranteed revenue-buster. But you can raise a ton of revenue by properly applying a high-touch approach. Problems only arise when you uncritically make a wholesale change to the way you reach your best donors.

Because fundamentally, where it matters most, your best donors put their pants on one leg at a time like everyone else. What works, works.

There are a number of ways these major donors are meaningfully different from others. And paying attention to these differences gives you the opportunity to use different strategies to increase involvement and revenue from them. Here are some key ways they’re different:

* They give more money. Duh. But this fact should inform what you ask them for. Are you asking folks who routinely write you checks for $500 to give you $20? If you are, you’re not only leaving money on the table, you’re saying loud and clear, “We don’t really know you!” If you are basing your ask amounts on donors’ giving, are you making sure what you ask for makes sense? Suppose you’re raising funds for vaccinations that cost 22 cents each. A $20 gift provides a robust 91 vaccinations. Nice. A $500 gift covers more than 2,000 — a number that’s hard to visualize. Maybe you should change the scale: $500 is enough to vaccinate an entire village.

* They tend to give less frequently. While typical donors average between two and three gifts a year, major donors are usually in the one- to two-gifts-per-year range. This doesn’t mean go silent on them, but it might tell you to communicate with them occasionally in ways other than asking for money.

* Their giving is more seasonal, concentrated toward the end of the year. You don’t have to space your communications equally throughout the year. Ask them more often in the fourth quarter and less in other quarters.

* They are a more valuable asset to your organization. It helps to approach them with investment thinking. The dollars you spend on them can trigger a much better return. Something as simple as First Class postage can be a good investment with these donors. If nothing else, the delivery rate of First Class mail (approaching 100 percent) sure beats that of bulk postage, which, by some estimates, has a loss rate as high as 20 percent. And by all means, you can afford to affirm, thank, praise and report back to your major donors more often and in more personal ways.

Given those facts, your ideal fundraising program for your major donors probably looks a lot like your regular program, with these differences:

* They get one, maybe two high-end, businesslike appeals a year.

* You spend a little more on postage.

* They get more personal touches, like thank-you phone calls or handwritten cards, birthday cards, special reports on your work, invitations to see your work firsthand, and other appreciative touches.

But don’t take my word for it. I’ve described a typical program for most donor files. Yours could be different. Test everything you do. Know for sure whether the changes you make help or hurt.

When you’ve discovered the right treatment for your major donors, you can turn your attention to your lowest-performing Uncle Jeff’s Greaseburgers. That’s the one where the formula doesn’t work. That’s where you need to make the big changes! FS

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