Cassandra, Chicken Little and Pollyanna
Cassandra says the end is here, can’t you see?!
Chicken Little says the sky is falling … it just hit us on the head.
Pollyanna says hogwash, everything is fine and will only get better.
Most fundraisers appear to be Pollyanna’s. I’m inferring that from the pattern I see in Agitator reader comments to the many — some would say irritatingly frequent — posts that Roger and I write about donor retention.
As much as we plead for more urgent attention to reversing declining retention rates, the comments we receive (actually, the ones we do not receive on this matter) would suggest that frontline fundraisers simply don’t share our alarm.
Cassandra (Roger) and Chicken Little (Tom), meet the Pollyanna’s!
Generally when someone shares their agreement with our retention laments, that someone is a consultant. We almost never hear from a coal face fundraiser (for present purposes, someone working within a nonprofit), saying: “Don’t worry Roger (or Tom), here at XYZ charity we get it, and here’s what we’re doing about it.”
From the frontline, deadly silence.
Instead, we hear from agencies and consultants, saying: “You’re right, and it’s a damn shame no one really wants to work on it.” I’ve yet to see or hear a fundraising consultant respond to me or Roger with: “Lighten up, it’s just an acorn.”
So what am I doing here? I’m begging for some examples — from real live nonprofits — of what you’re doing to turn around falling retention rates. Where are you now? What goals have you set? What steps are you taking to reverse direction?
This venting is inspired by a recent post, Cassandra and Pollyanna, written by Seth Godin. He observes:
“The thing is: failure almost always arrives in a whimper. It is almost always the result of missed opportunities, a series of bad choices and the rust that comes from things gradually getting worse.
Things don’t usually explode. They melt.”
We’re melting, folks.
Tom
8 responses to “Cassandra, Chicken Little and Pollyanna”
Behavioral Science Q & A
Integrating an individual giving appeal with other communications from a charity can have both positive and negative effects, and the outcome largely depends on how it’s executed. Advantages of Integration Brand Consistency: Maintaining a consistent appearance and messaging across all communications can reinforce the org’s brand identity and strengthen brand recognition and trust among your […]
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I’m not aware of any in-market tests specifically comparing recurring vs. gift frequency language. I suspect the answer might not be the same with all gift frequencies, nor with all people. It sounds like a great opportunity for you to test and find out what works for your audience. Based on the literature, here’s a couple […]
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Based on what we know from existing data, those renewal notices can actually be pretty effective in getting people to donate. They tap into our psychology – creating a sense of urgency, reminding us of past support, and using personalization to make the message hit home. They’re playing on our natural tendencies to feel obligated […]
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Interesting question. I had a quick look at the testing done on this topic. On the positive side, in all cases, over half of donors decide to cover the fee. In some cases, it goes as high as 65%. Not a negligible percentage at all. Here’s another test from iRaiser showing consistent results (see point […]
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There’s just one thing to consider when designing a supporter journey: the supporter. More specifically, you need to take into account: Who the supporter is i.e. their identity, which is the reason they support this cause, and their personality, which describes the way they “see” and process the world. These will determine the kind of […]
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I’m not an expert in this but a quick search surfaced this article on the effect of tax reforms on 2019’s charitable giving. The researchers didn’t find a reduction. Actually, they observed an “increase in charitable contributions in 2019, even with the lower tax rates and the dramatically smaller number of taxpayers who itemize their […]
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So it’s 11:50 a.m. in most of Europe. 4:50 a.m. on the U.S. East Coast.
YES YES YES YES… DISASTER! CRISIS OF EPIC PROPORTIONS! NOTICED by The Agitators and Sargeant and soooooooo many of us for sooooooooooooo many years.
Every one of my clients for the past decade or more … since I’ve been talking about this … gets anxious. Some then get rather confident because their retention rates are good. But through no action of their own mostly. So while I’m with them, the drink the Kool-Aid of crisis and repair. They take actions that I create with them.
And I can only hope that most of them keep it up. Because lots of the time, I don’t know. And other times, they don’t keep it up and they invite me back and I remind them of our former conversations and DECISIONS AND ACTIONS.
And how long have how many of us been writing about this and presenting and consulting about it everywhere all over the world? I’m amused and annoyed. But I don’t lose patience. I just ratchet up my fallen chicken little skies and my Cassandra-esque doom. And I snicker and I warn and I help as best I can.
And then… I look askance at our sector and hope that more permanent-type change will come along before I die.
Back to France and vacation nipping at my heels along with work — and some house crap thrown in.
I’m not a ‘real, live, nonprofit.’ I’m a fundraising consultant, with a training program focused, not on the latest and greatest nonprofit trends, but yes retention – and getting this stuff right, right from the start. Our webinar trainings and courses cover how to select the donor database that’s right for your organization, how to create your fundraising plan, how to get off the event treadmill, how to develop your communications, and – most importantly – retention and building lifetime relationships.
And yes, prevention is a tough sell. Everything in our very culture here in the United States is geared around the short-term.
I would agree, retention is a huge issue. At the organization I am at we lose a very high percentage of our donors from year to year. That is a lot of funds you have to make-up… I can only imagine what it would be for organizations to have a high retention rate and be able to expand from there with new. At our organization we are working on building better relationships with donors and including them in more a “circle” or “club”. This means more touch points and “events” for these donors (so a bit more work) throughout the year but the retention shoots through the sky…which in the end means the same amt of work because you’re not starting from scratch to find new.
I work at a non-profit. After our part-time Development Director left several years ago different folks picked up the bits and pieces of appeals and thank yous, and did it admirably, all things considered. I was hired about 1 1/2 years ago to do a number of different things, among them Fund Development.
This summer we got Bloomerang software (love it!) to help keep track of donor retention, track histories, etc. Thank you notes are usually (but not always- we’re working on that) quick and personalized, and I share what their donation has done, whenever possible. We are working on getting specific stories and quotes to include in the notes. Confidentiality is vital at our agency, with HIPAA, etc.
I have begun calling donors to say thanks the day their donation arrives (thanks for the tip, Pamela Grow!) and hope to make that a regular part of the process. I am reading and studying about how to tell donor and client stories, and am creating a donor -centric newsletter. Our ED or a Board member signs every thank you, and sometimes a lot of people do. Every single appeal letter has a brief, hand written personal note in addition to the main letter.
Our website will be upgraded and improved, including our donation page.
While I want it all done yesterday, I am developing a plan to implement what needs to be done, step by step, understanding that this is a learning process and will take some time. We have resouce limitations, both budgetary and personnel. This is all relatively new to me and only one piece of my job. I’m grateful for the wisdom and shared knowledge from so many of you- Ann
Don’t worry Roger (or Tom), here at We Care Program we get it, and here’s what we’re doing about it. Seriously, three years ago I joined We Care coming from a sales background where we paid a lot of attention on retention. I read your recent book, marked it all up and made lots of notes. It has helped us actually put into practice the concepts that we had in our minds.
the lack of response from the trenches is staggering!
Hey! We’re actually pretty damn busy here in the trenches. Sometimes we have to choose between implementing good practice and writing about it.
I want to send a big thank you to all who do spend time writing about and highlighting the need to focus on donor retention.
I read everything I can find about donor care & retention and we’ve had great success implementing it. In 5.5 years we’ve grown from 500 donors to 15,000 donors while achieving a 64% retention rate. We keep working and hope to break that magic 70% retention mark.
Many of the problems faced by mega charities are more easily addressed in a small charity. Being more human is easier on a smaller scale. Building authentic relationships is labour intensive but still more viable on a small scale. But we are doing it with a very small staff, so we may not be blogging or commenting very often. Hand in the air… blogging feels like extra homework and I prefer doing to writing about it.
So thank you again to all of the people who consistently share great information and keep reminding us where our focus needs to be. You’re a part of our team of very proud fundraisers.
Having only recently left the world of smaller nonprofits, I have to second Denisa. There are definitely advantages as well. In a smaller world, it’s easier to be personal.
At a former organization, we had 74% retention. Through the worst of the recession. I did add things like better thank you letters, (better communication all around), surveys, “just because” thank you letters, and a newsletter that our donors there loved and responded to in a big way. But before I’d even started, we had an executive director who insisted on signing letters personally and adding notes. And really enjoyed interacting with donors. (The signing thing could cut both ways, though – I spent a fair amount of time nagging him to sign them so I could get them out!)
The thing is, *what* to do isn’t really that complicated. The complication is, as Denisa says, finding the resources in time or personnel to GET to it. So if it’s not seen as a priority from the top, people can get pulled away – even when they know it matters a great deal.