What stage is your organisation at in the donor centric journey?

What stage is your organisation at in the donor centric journey?

by | Oct 20, 2021 | Customer Journey, Donor Endearment, donor engagement, donor-centric, Donor-centricity, Sustainable Fundraising

In a survey to our Donor Centricity Collective (DCC) community, results showed that a common challenge amongst Fundraising Managers is ‘knowing your data’.

In our quest to help solve this common problem, we’ve taken our learnings from the commercial world and created an 8 step journey roadmap to the Donor Centric environment.

We encourage you to challenge your thinking by rating your organisation at each stage of the donor centricity road map (on a scale of 1 – 10).

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Donor Relationship Stage 2: Welcome Me – ft. Lauren McDermott from Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research

Donor Relationship Stage 2: Welcome Me – ft. Lauren McDermott from Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research

by | Nov 12, 2020 | Customer Journey, donor-centric, Donor-centricity, Sustainable Fundraising

Continuing with our 8-part blog series reviewing the different stages of the donor relationship, this blog delves into donor relationship stage 2: Welcome Me.

After hearing her passionately speak on the subject at one of our Donor Centricity Collective events, we asked Lauren McDermott, Fundraising Manager – Donor Development at Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research to share her thoughts and experiences on the “most exciting donor stage for all fundraisers” and an “incredible opportunity for innovation and discovery”……

As fundraisers, we often liken the ‘Welcome Me’ stage of a donor’s journey to the honeymoon stage of a romantic relationship. Whilst there are many commonalities – the setting of expectations, taking time to get to know and understand each other, the building of trust – there is a striking difference.

When giving their first gift, our donors have usually just responded to a single call to action, crafted to feel as urgent and unavoidable as we can possibly make it. We shouldn’t be too quick to assume then, that this equates to any sort of commitment or loyalty. We are not side-by-side in a getaway car trailing cans.

The donor welcome journey is a tool used to increase the likelihood of a second gift and, if done well, a third and fourth before progressing over time into our pillar programs as a monthly giver, a major donor or leaving a gift in their will.

Whilst it sounds simple enough, at the time of writing this, I find that best practice welcome journeys are not easy to come by. Perhaps that’s not surprising given the UK’s Commission on Donor Experience  reports that fundraisers often only pay lip service to thanking and welcoming their donors. This is proven by the fact that more than 90% of the reviewed fundraising materials contained the same sentence – Thank you so much for your kind/generous donation of.The Commission’s report suggested four areas that charities might benefit from reviewing if they want to implement a best-practice welcome for a new supporter.

Being real and authentic

Too often, we use speed as a measure of a good welcome. But taking the time to add a personal touch is just as, if not more, important. It tells donors right from the start that they are heroes to your beneficiaries and that their donations are seen and noticed (no black hole here). It may also break down perceived barriers for future giving by showcasing your friendly supporter care.

Whilst a phone call is one way of thanking a donor, with numerous benefits to both parties, we know handwritten notes, paperclips, videos and plain text email can all convey a similar message – a machine is not thanking you today, a real human is.

Choice-driven communication.

Respecting a donor’s choice and privacy is key to ensuring the relationship is sustainable and long-lasting. But it’s also crucial we have the opportunity to thank people and show them the incredible impact they have had on our cause.

If supporters take the opportunity to opt-out too soon, we can’t give them the most basic psychological return on their investment. It’s a lose/lose.

Having a robust, but functional, preference centre is one step we can take to resolve this. But there is a lot more to be done to have harmonious, engaging and choice-driven communications with your supporters.

Digital matters.

Is digital still an afterthought when it comes to welcoming new donors to your organisation? What if you can’t call them because they don’t have a phone number?

Ensuring we duplicate our offline welcome activities in the online world, in a way that is meaningful and memorable for new supporters coming on from every possible source is important. It is also a great way for us to begin measuring, testing and using data-driven insights to continuously improve the journeys we put in place.

At the Perkins, we use the term ‘automation with heart’ to remind us that tools and technology should be utilised to enhance the donor’s experience first and foremost, not to make things easier for us.

Measuring success.

By far the most important area that needs the urgent focus of our best fundraising minds is how we measure an effective welcome.

The lack of appropriate, accurate and universally adaptable metrics is likely the reason that we underperform in this area of fundraising. From my experience, the current common measures of success are not necessarily the best ones to use for measuring the donor welcome journey:

  • Speed – a quick thank you isn’t always a quality thanks.
  • ROI – leads to short term thinking and a focus on cost-saving. If we don’t thank people for giving small amounts, they don’t understand the impact that giving more could have next time.
  • Second gift rates – are important but not everything. Do people who are welcomed give more? What’s the difference five years on?
  • Lifetime value – extremely difficult to measure for many charities, particularly smaller or less established ones, or to effectively use this to show cause and effect from a single activity.

We know the impact a word or even the font size can have when seeking donations, but when it comes to thanking or welcoming donors, there is still a lot left to be discovered. I think that’s exactly what makes the welcome me stage a very exciting area for all fundraisers with an incredible opportunity for innovation and discovery – I hope you do too.

If you’d like to learn more from Lauren and your fundraising peers, we invite you to join LemonTree’s Donor-Centricity Collective (DCC). Every quarter we host webinars and events with industry speakers, as well as commercial speakers so you learn how to bring commercial best practice into the NFP industry. Learn from your peers – and share your own insights and experiences – through our private social media groups, events and blogs…all for FREE!

It takes a tribe to raise a family and it takes a collective of passionate, like-minded peers to change an industry and help grow sustainable giving in Australia – join us today.

Thank you to Lauren McDermott for sharing her knowledge on the Welcome Me stage in the donor relationship journey.

 

Previously in this series:

 Next up in this series:

  • Teach Me
  • Grow Me
  • Endear Me
  • Keep Me
  • Renew Me
  • Win Me Back
Donor Relationship Stage 1: Catch Me – ft. Joanne Rogers from The Shepherd Centre

Donor Relationship Stage 1: Catch Me – ft. Joanne Rogers from The Shepherd Centre

by | Oct 12, 2020 | Customer Journey, donor-centric, Donor-centricity, Sustainable Fundraising

As you embark on your journey to donor-centricity, it’s important to understand what stage of the donor relationship you are at with your donors.

Each stage presents its own challenges and opportunities so this 8-part blog series is dedicated to the different stages in an effort to equip you with ideas and inspiration to sustainably nurture and grow your donor relationships.

First up, we have donor relationship stage 1: Catch Me.

This is the stage of courtship. You are marketing yourself amongst a sea of competition, trying to attract and woo a donor by appealing to your similar interests and beliefs.

We asked LemonTree member Joanne Rogers, Senior Individual Giving Manager at The Shepherd Centre to share her experiences of acquiring new donors…

The Shepherd Centre is a registered charity providing a family-centred early intervention program to teach children born deaf or hearing impaired to develop spoken language.

Since 1970, The Shepherd Centre has assisted more than 2,500 children via early intervention Listening and Spoken Language therapy, providing families with assistance to develop their child’s spoken language, so they can unlock their complete potential and participate fully in society.

Premium Direct Mail

From 2011-2015 The Shepherd Centre invested heavily in premium direct mail acquisition, the packs included a number of premium items, ranging from tea towels and keyrings to gift cards and address labels.

This program proved to be successful and recruited almost 40,000 new supporters for The Shepherd Centre. At the height of performance, these campaigns saw response rates of 7%.

In 2014 we saw a decline in the performance of this acquisition channel with response rates and ROI declining to an unacceptable level. Response rates dropped to around 2% in 2015 and it was decided that this was no longer a viable acquisition channel for The Shepherd Centre.

Telemarketing

In 2014 a telemarketing program was introduced to acquire cash donors. In 2015 this program was scaled up and recruited over 5000 new supporters. As with the premium direct mail program, the telemarketing program was initially successful at a larger scale but we found that this level could not be sustained. In 2016 the decision was made to take a monthly supply of data from LemonTree to call.

Sustainability the Key to Success

This program has now been running for four years and recruits around 150 new supporters every month. The monthly telemarketing acquisition program is still running today and proving successful in recruiting both cash and regular donors.

The focus for The Shepherd Centre is now on recruiting regular givers via a two-step program of a non-financial interaction followed by a phone request for a regular gift. This is currently in the testing phase as we investigate different lead sources and donor engagement tools.

…

If you’d like to learn more from Joanne and your fundraising peers, we invite you to join LemonTree’s Donor-Centricity Collective (DCC). Every quarter we host webinars and events with industry speakers, as well as commercial speakers so you learn how to bring best practice to the NFP industry. Learn from others and share your own insights and experiences – through our private social media groups, events and blogs…all for FREE!

It takes a tribe to raise a family and it takes a collective of passionate, like-minded peers to change an industry and help grow sustainable giving in Australia – join us today.

Thank you to Joanne Rogers for sharing her knowledge on the Catch Me stage in the donor relationship journey.

Next up in this series:

  • Welcome Me
  • Teach Me
  • Grow Me
  • Endear Me
  • Keep Me
  • Renew Me
  • Win Me Back
The different stages of the donor relationship

The different stages of the donor relationship

by | Aug 6, 2020 | Customer Journey, donor-centric, Donor-centricity, Sustainable Fundraising

Like any relationship in your life, professional or personal, there are different phases to a donor’s relationship with your organisation. There’s the flirtation phase, the honeymoon period, the ‘comfort zone’, the seven-year itch, the renewed passion, and so on. 

As a relationship progresses through each different stage, a subtle shift occurs in the way in which each party communicates, interacts and behaves with the other. The language we use, our tone of voice, the actions we take – or don’t take, the degree of trust we have in each other, the reliance we place on each other, the compromises we’re willing to make, the expectations we have. All of these evolve over the course of a relationship. 

As you and your organisation follow the steps required to become more donor-centric, you first need to identify and understand what stage your donor relationship is at so you can work towards connecting more meaningfully, collaborating more effectively and genuinely caring for your donors in a way that makes sense for that particular stage of your relationship. In doing so, you will create ongoing value exchange, build trust and increase loyalty with your donors.

Stage 1: Catch Me

This is the stage of courtship. You are marketing yourself amongst a sea of competition, trying to attract and woo a donor by appealing to your similar interests and beliefs.

Stage 2: Welcome Me

This is the honeymoon stage. It’s where you learn how best to communicate with each other, how to support each other, and how to value each other.

Stage 3: Teach Me

This is the engagement stage. Things are starting to get a little more serious. Curiosity is peaked. Questions are asked. Information is sought. You want to learn more about each other so you can connect on a deeper level.

Stage 4: Grow Me

This is the enrichment stage. It’s a time of excitement and opportunities. It’s time to demonstrate the value each of you brings to the relationship and highlight the impact you can have on the world if you work together.

Stage 5: Keep Me

This is something of a warning stage. It’s a reminder to never get complacent. For the relationship to work, it’s important to show respect, care and attention. Remember, trust and loyalty must always be earned so never stop striving for them.

Stage 6: Endear Me

This is the rekindling stage. Focus on reminding each other why the relationship exists, what attracted you to each other in the first place and why you still belong together. It’s an opportunity to reflect on all you have accomplished so far and ignite the passion to continue on your journey together.

Stage 7: Renew Me

This is a re-establishment stage. It’s an opportunity to breathe fresh life into the relationship in a bid to make it stronger. It may even be time to start afresh; to revisit expectations and work on understanding each other.

Stage 8: Win Me Back

This is an acknowledgement stage. It’s time to listen intently; to face up to the issues and accept the role you played in creating them. You might even need to apologise. Above all, it’s about understanding whether you’re meant to be together and then putting in the effort to make that happen.

As you embark on this journey on the journey to donor-centricity, ask yourself what stage of the donor relationship at you at with your donors? Remember, each stage comes with its own challenges and opportunities. Knowing a little bit more about each phase can help you navigate the journey. So, our next blog series will be dedicated to each stage of the donor relationship journey – stay tuned!

You might also be interested in joining LemonTree’s free Donor-Centricity Collective (DCC)? Every event we do a deep dive into one of the stages so you can learn from your peers, share your experiences, ask questions and keep up-to-date with the latest strategies to help you through that stage to become more donor-centric…AND be part of a movement to help grow sustainable giving in Australia! Simply click here to sign up for free.

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Previous posts in this series:

Protecting your donors and your sustainability, our conversation with FIA

Protecting your donors and your sustainability, our conversation with FIA

by | Jul 11, 2019 | Donor-centricity, Sustainable Fundraising

Many of us work in this sector to make a positive impact on society. But has the nature of fundraising in today’s digital world led to a proliferation of communication and around privacy concerns that sometimes challenge our core beliefs?

Have the negative experiences of our overseas counterparts; the rise of “leaking donor bucket” syndrome; – and the declining ability to acquire donors via traditional channels got you wondering where things have gone awry; what can we learn; and what can we do differently?

On our mission to create more sustainable giving practices in Australia, these questions and concerns are certainly at the forefront of our minds here at LemonTree Fundraising.

That’s why we recently sat down with the FIA’s Head of Code and Regulatory Affairs, Scott McClellan, to discuss best practice donor protection and others trends across the industry. Some really interesting market research was discussed and some powerful areas of focus resulted from our conversation. 

Handling Donor Preferences

Earlier this year FIA’s Code Authority commissioned mystery shopping of 30 FIA organisational members to assess their compliance with the Code. Donations were made in April via telephone and website.

To date no breaches of the Code have been recorded. Nevertheless, the monitoring found that most charities that received the unsolicited donation by telephone did not take the opportunity to ask the donor about their preferred method for receiving future communication.

By contrast, a clear majority of charities contacted via their website did enable the donor to choose their preferred method of future contact.

Similarly, receipts sent to donors generally had no option for the donor to alter their communication preferences. While there is no requirement to provide a communications preference choice to current donors, it is considered best practice to regularly offer it in the context of donor care.

Scott also mentioned “a current focus of Code monitoring is the treatment of donors who may be in vulnerable circumstances. This is a tricky area, demanding compassion and good judgement from fundraisers. The Code itself requires fundraisers, when they identify such a person, not to accept a donation.”

FIA has published a practice note to help members identify donors who may lack capacity to make a decision to donate due to their vulnerability.

Communication Compliance

Other topics discussed with Scott, included the changes we are seeing in the awareness of and preparation for the governments Digital Platforms Enquiry, Consumer Data Rights and Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

As these privacy-driven controls begin to tighten, both the FIA and LemonTree Fundraising have observed mixed views across fundraising on high vs. low frequency of communications and which is in the best interests of the donor.

Interestingly, in what appears to contrast the increasing privacy-driven compliance measures, Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has declared overall communication complaint levels from Australian consumers are in decline. However this could be due to the mass reduction in telemarketing of the financial sector, as opposed to changes in fundraising telemarketing practices.

What did we conclude?

Protecting vulnerable people is getting better and easier with the ability to apply ‘vulnerable propensity’ scoring across your donor base and equip your donor support team with a flag on your CRM for the next time they communicate with a potentially vulnerable donor.

When it comes to the frequency with which you communicate with your donors, one size does not fit all. It’s no longer enough to be compliant with government and industry regulations; you need to be compliant with your donors. Begin capturing communication preferences on your donors as part of your opt-out process. Often they are more frustrated, rather wanting to stop giving completely.  Check out our LemonTree Fundraising preference/opt-out capture page as an example.

Finally, conversations increase learning which leads to change. We each play a part in the future of the fundraising industry; it’s important that we continue to share our experiences and learnings so together we can create more sustainable giving practices in Australia. We look forward to continuing our conversations with Scott and the FIA and encourage each of you to tap into your passion for social good and contribute to the discussion. Comment below or reach out to Scott at smcclellan@fia.org.au or myself joel.nicholson@lemontree.com.au directly.