Most fundraisers don’t even need Artificial Intelligence, machine learning or the expensive gibberish of donor personas and clusters to drive away their donors.

In fact, as Kevin pointed out in recent posts many of these gee whiz tech and “scientific” tools may in fact speed up donor erosion by lulling us into dangerous and attrition-filled complacency.  (See  Beware of Junk Science  and Donor Service: Human or Machine)

What is NOT artificial, but richly intelligent is the willingness and ability to pay serious attention to the critically important function of Donor Service.

Every – I repeat – every organization, regardless of size, can significantly reduce attrition and dramatically improve donor lifetime value by paying serious attention to Donor Service.

Here’s a Cliff Notes version of two previous Agitator posts worth detailed attention if you want to boost retention and donor value.  (I’ve linked their titles below to the original and more detailed posts. By the way the original versions include terrific reader comments.)

Donor-Centric or Faux Donor-Centric?  Check the Plumbing.

[Abridged Version]

When it comes to donor-centricity/obsession/love/devotion/passion I fear many fundraisers talk a good game while ignoring the fundamental and routine practices that should exist in any organization that truly cares about its donors.

Every once in a while, we need to step back from the high faulting (the philosophy) and deal with basics (the plumbing).

Earlier  I summarized the characteristics of a donor-obsessed organization – humility, agility, simplicity—noting that many of the very organizations that call themselves “donor-centric” focus mainly on the needs, egos and whims of their top executives while paying little more than lip service to importance of the donor.

Here’s a checklist that I hope will help you determine whether your organization is Donor-Centric or Faux Donor-Centric.

• Do staff and consultant performance reviews include contributions made to advancing donor satisfaction, retention and responsiveness?
• Are donor service personnel properly trained, recognized and compensated within the organization?
• Do donor-facing personnel participate in discussions around creating donor experiences, appropriate ways to meet donors’ concerns, and regularly conducting an organization-wide review of donor concerns and compliments?
• Are all departments aware of and focused on the same donor retention, commitment and satisfaction goals?
• Do the board and CEO routinely participate in reviews of donor retention and commitment rates…in reviews of donor complaints, suggestions and feedback?
• Does leadership place more emphasis and importance on current donors than potential donors?
• Does the organization have methods for seeking donor feedback, responding quickly to donor concerns and sharing these concerns across departments and with leadership?
• Is the organization willing to change or adapt processes to meet donor concerns based on feedback?
• Does the organization have a true focus on donor needs and a process for meeting those needs?
• Does the organization follow basic practices to maintain and update donor addresses and remove deceased donors’ names and addresses?
• A leadership and management culture willing to have its own assumptions challenged and tested through input and feedback from donors?
• Investing more in making functions work more simply and easily for the donor as opposed to working for the convenience of the organization?
• Providing easy-to-find contact information and feedback channels that are responsive and easy to use by the donor?

Roger

The Value of “Random Amazement”

[Abridged Version]

Let’s start with this fundamental question:  Do you really know what good donor service looks like?

I sure hope so, because as we’ve reported before, nearly 20% of all donors who drop out quit because of lousy donor service.

Consequently, any organization serious about improving its retention rates and lifetime values had better be deadly serious about the quality of donor services it provides.

Rather than treat donor service as a cost center to be shoved off on an unsuspecting intern, relegated to the lunchtime receptionist, or otherwise ignored, successful nonprofits — just like successful companies — focus on great donor service. And they reap big bucks for their effort.

Solving the donor service part of the retention puzzle is no mystery. Neither does it have to involve high costs. It does, however, require attention, planning, hard work and focus. All worth it if good service prevents 1 out of every 5 donors from abandoning ship.

Let me ask you this: 

• Have you called your organization’s donor helpline or service center to get a first-hand sense of what your donors and prospects will experience?
• Can you easily find your organization’s call-in number on the website?
• How long did it take before the phone was answered?
• Were you put on hold? For how long? What did you experience while on hold?

If you had a lousy experience with any of the above you should, of course, should fix it.

These days, for the obvious reasons of Amazon and other sophisticated, service-oriented e-commerce platforms and the ubiquitous use of social media, we need to realize that donor service is not only important –it’s everything.

Today, donors have a direct a direct and diverse set of ways to complain or praise.  And these complaints and kudos are no longer limited to the occasional letter or phone call to your donor service line. Donors can now spread the word – for good or ill—quickly and massively on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Great Donor Service Starts at the Top

Most CEOs will only act and demand change if they see a massive –and usually negative –change in their organization’s metrics.  If there’s a sudden flight of hundreds or thousands of donors and the quarterly report shows an inverted hockey stick you have their attention.

Problem is that poor donor service is like soil erosion.  Barring a massive flood, the topsoil sluffs off slowly and largely goes unnoticed. So, most CEOs aren’t even aware of the slow, drip, drip, drip of donors leaking from the retention bucket.

That’s why any organization truly deserving of the label “donor-centric” will provide its board, CEO (and every department) with monthly attrition numbers and donor feedback comments.

Few organizations can claim “we don’t have a donor service department because we are a donor service organization.  Our entire operation is focused on donor service.”  The key to holding on to donors or winning back defecting donors to get on top of problems before it’s too late— and that means making sure different departments are aware of donor attitudes and talking to each other to solve any problems and seize any opportunities.

Bring random amazement into normal situations.

Peter Shankman in his book Zombie Loyalists: Using Great Service to Create Rabid Fans offers lots of great advice on customer service, but one piece of advice remains ingrained in my brain years after I read the book:  “Bring random amazement into normal situations.”

Peter describes what he means: “Reach out to your customers and say hi with something of value to them without selling to them. Give them something that they can’t get anywhere else— an experience that only they can have, and yes, can brag about if they so desire. (And chances are, they will desire.) Check in on them, not in a creepy/ stalky way, but in a way that makes them recognize that you understand how important they are to you.”

In short, “bring random amazement into normal situations”

Angel Aloma, the executive director at Food for the Poor, has created a true “donor service organization.”

I know from first-hand experience.

• When I was doing some ‘mystery shopping’ for anAgitator post on planned giving I called seven large organizations after 7 pm to determine how well they followed up. Food for the Poor not only called me first thing the next morning but followed up regularly with friendly “can we provide any additional information” notes. I have yet to hear from the other six.
• During Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria last year I received regular reports on what the organization was doing to help in relief efforts –even though these regions are not the main focus of their mission.
• Then, the week before Christmas last year I received a phone call from a member of the staff inviting me to “come on up” and join with the staff in a dinner that was being cooked by Angel himself.

No, I didn’t get special treatment because of the Agitator or the size of my gift; I give under a pseudonym.

But what really impressed me was a story relayed by my friend and copywriter Tom Gaffny.  Tom and his wife are donors to Food for the Poor.  They live in Boston.   In the days immediately following the Boston Marathon bombing they received a phone call from Food for the Poor, which is based in Florida.

Purpose of the call?  To find out if they were safe!   No request for funds.   Just a heartfelt act of kindness and concern.  An injection of “random amazement.”

You know that whenever Tom and his wife or I receive a communication from Food for the Poor we will remember.  And we share these memories with friends who hopefully will become supporters as well.

In my book Retention Fundraising: the art and science of keeping your donors for life, I cite several examples of organizations that inject “random amazement.  Sometimes, it’s a simple as going out of your way to answer a donor’s question…or practicing delight and surprise…or simply giving a free membership to a lapsed donor who’s supported you for years.   

Our post, The Neuroscience Science of Donor Service describes the science behind donor service…why speed in providing excellent service is so important…and how you should be thinking about segmenting your donor service efforts.

Don’t Be Bored. Be Kind.

We all get into ruts. And it’s so easy to just keep following the same old routine where our donors are concerned; year after year, after year.

Well, donors get bored too. When that happens, they look for something, some organization, that’s new.

What steps are you taking to try new things, to offer kindness and surprises that will delight your donors?

Roger