knowabundance.com

Happy Monday!

We often talk in fundraising about donor prospecting, cultivation and the all important “ask” – but equally significant for successful relationship building with our supporters is donor stewardship.

Stewardship is defined as “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.”

Every gift that we receive from a donor, large or small is an act of trust.

Donors are trusting that we will use their money in the ways we’ve said that we will. And in a world where financial scandals are reported daily and faith in systems and the people who run them is weaker than ever, this part of our job is even more crucial.

What are the key aspects of good donor stewardship?

1. Honor the intent – Did you receive the gift in response to a targeted appeal? Did the donor send in a note with their gift expressing interest in a specific program? Then that’s where their money needs to go. Talk with the donor about why they are choosing to give to you. Record and respond to their interest.

2. Be Transparent and Honest – Every donor wants to know, “How will my money be spent?” Don’t use fancy marketing or vague lawyer speak to answer this question. We all feel suspicious of that sort of thing. Instead be explicit about organizational costs and expenses using simple language and terms that are easy to understand.

3. Report on successes and challenges – Donors want to hear from us about how their money was used. Did their contribution make a difference? The stories we share about what is made possible because of donor generosity is the pulsing heart that keeps our organizations alive and thriving.

4. Remember where the money comes from – We are simply intermediaries between the donor and their passion. We are helping them do what they want to do in the world. So the money might change bank accounts but it’s never ours.

5. Be your donor’s best friend - Don’t take your donors for granted. No relationship is static. Donors literally have thousands of choices of where to give their money. What will keep them giving to you is the relationship you nurture and build with them.

As passionate crusaders for our cause we can easily slip into the belief that we “deserve this money” and forget how important donor stewardship is.

But as the charities who’ve had to close their doors in the past two years know, without our donors our organizations will not survive. So follow these five basics of donor stewardship and honor the trust your donors place in you each time they make a gift.

Happy Monday!

So what’s on your “to do” list this week? Planning meetings? Paperwork? Data entry? Responding to emails?

What about meeting with donors? Does that show up on your daily calendar anywhere?

If not, you need to rearrange your schedule.

It’s easy to get caught up in office tasks and loose sight of the most important aspect of our job: building relationships with the people who are supporting our work.

The 2009 study Significant Gifts: Where Donors Direct Their Largest Gifts and Why conducted by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University confirms that, “Donors to charitable organizations give more when they are asked in person and when someone they know makes the request.”

and “People give to people, and especially to people they know.”

But it’s not just about us initiating face-to-face meetings – we also need to be available.

A longtime supporter emailed recently to say she’d be stopping by the office and “hope to see you for a few minutes at least.” I suggested we go out for lunch and she replied that she already had plans and said, “I never think of trying to have lunch with you guys anymore because you all seem so busy.”

Later that week another donor sent an email asking if we “might be available for a bite of lunch or cup of coffee…I know you are busy, busy people, so just let me know what might work for you.”

Both of these messages were stop signs for me. What kind of relationship can we have with our donors if they think we’re too busy to meet with them?

What’s the most important part of our job as fundraisers?

You know what it is, so get out of the office this week. Go enjoy conversations with people who are passionate about supporting your work. Be available.

Happy Monday!

We often live as if money is the most important thing.

We hear (and believe?) that time is money, happiness is money, success is money, power is money, freedom is money. Or the inverse: money is time, money is happiness, money is success, money is power, money is freedom.

We have created a world where we can (theoretically) buy whatever we want. Everything is for sale. We can purchase time, happiness, success, power and freedom. Money is the most important thing because money gets us what we want.

But what is money?

Money is, “a current medium of exchange.” What is necessary for exchange? Relationship. What gives a piece of paper with pictures and words on it value? Our relationship with that piece of paper – our collective, accepted belief that the piece of paper means something – is what creates the value.

Money relies on the relationship of our (shared) mental concept with the piece of paper for its existence and on the relationship of buyers and sellers, employers and employees, fundraisers and donors for the exchange.

Money is nothing without relationship.

And what about time? How do we measure time? In relationship. We observe the relationship of sun, moon and earth. We create concepts of light and dark, of more and less, and we gauge them in relation to each other. We call more light, “day” and less light, “night.” We assign numbers to our descriptions and then calculate the relationship of these numbers on our clocks to create a meaning of time.

How do we distinguish past, present and future? By their relationship to each other: Here we are in Now, and this (idea, story, memory, experience, goal) that we are thinking of is not happening Now, so it is either past (already happened) or future (hasn’t happened yet.)

Time has no meaning without relationship.

And happiness? What is happiness? Everyone has his or her own definition of happiness. How do we know whether we are happy or not? Through the relationship of our idea of happiness with what is.

We evaluate happiness by comparing what is happening (present) or what has happened (past) or what we plan to have happen (future) to our idea of what happiness is. Is our idea of happiness what is happening? Then we are happy.

Happiness is defined by relationship.

And success? How do we know what success is? We assign value to certain ideas, we create a concept of what “success is” and what “success is not” and then we determine success through the relationship of these concepts to each other.

Success is determined by relationship.

And power? What is power if there is nothing to exert power over, or power with or power to?

Power exists in relationship.

And freedom? One of our most cherished ideals. To not have freedom, something or someone has to be constricting, denying or taking away our freedom. We give up freedom for, grant freedom to, win freedom from, something or someone. Without this something or someone, all we know is freedom.

Freedom can only be restricted, granted or denied in relationship.

What do money, time, happiness, success, power and freedom all have in common? Relationship. They are defined and determined by, exist and are valued and experienced in, relationship.

Relationship is the most important thing.

So as we listen to the economic news and count the dollars in our bank account and as we look at our giving charts, segment our supporters into categories and plan strategies for meeting our fundraising goals – we can remind ourselves that money is not the most important thing – relationship is.

Loosing sight of this is easy to do because our jobs are defined by getting the money. With this pressure, money can seem like the most important thing. But relationship is what brings and keeps the money flowing to support the work. Money is just an exchange, which takes places in relationship.

The key question to ask then is, “What is the quality of our relationship with our supporters?” Do we see them as  “cash cows” or as partners in the work? Are they just a means to an end or vital players in the actualization of our mission?

As you answer these questions and work to raise money to support your cause, remember that relationship is more important than money.