If the number of “How To Get Ready for #Giving Tuesday” emails in my inbox is any barometer this year’s #GivingTuesday targets  will be buried in a blizzard of breathless matching gift offers, convulsing countdown clocks and sundry demands that only an uncaring human,  without soul or  pulse, would refuse to hit the ‘donate’ button.

Although I expect the dollars raised this year to be up substantially over 2017’s total of $274 million   (the digital agency Whole Whale estimates it will hit $331 million—up 21%) I will bet my life that 70+% of the #GivingTuesday donors will be improperly thanked, or not thanked at all.

By “thanked” I’m not talking about the typical, pre-programmed autoresponder that instantly bounces back to the donor with that instant, “thank you” reeking of insincerity.  No, that’s what I call “electronic receipting”; doesn’t even remotely resemble a true and heartfelt expression of gratitude.

Missed Opportunity

So, once again, thousands of organizations will miss the opportunity to begin a true relationship with tens of thousands of potentially long-term donors.  And once again, many nonprofits won’t even know or care. After all, “we got the #GivingTuesday money.”

The problem with this heartless, thankless vortex is that it breeds donor apathy at best, and donor disloyalty at worst.  You can see this year-over-year in the falling open and click-thru rates. Yet, rather than interrupt the flow of this Sea of Sameness most organizations –egged on by the digital divas and the payment processors—simply turn up the volume of emails.

And so, the cycle continues uninterrupted. The more digitally promiscuous nonprofits become, the more disloyal donors become. Why?  Because, unless there’s more content actually related to a donor’s identity coming from both the front-end and the back-end of these digital avalanches the more fickle and constantly shifting the digital audience becomes.  A shallow “relationship” where support quickly dissolves from one organization and evolves to another.

It sure doesn’t have to be this way.

Thus, I was thrilled when the folks over at Bloomerang posted a marvelously thoughtful piece by veteran fundraiser Claire Axelrad of Clairification.

Titled Nonprofit Donor Thank You’s: What are You Doing to Stand Out? this is a piece you should not only read and heed, but share with your entire organization.

In a nutshell:

• First, Claire sounds the well-deserved alarm.  “Face it.  There are lots of worthy causes for donors to support.  I’m sure yours is a good one too, but…you’ve got a big problem.”
• That problem lies in the fact that most organizations focus far too much on donor acquisition rather than donor retention. [Come on, admit it!]
• AND….”A huge part of donor retention hangs on how well you say thank you.”
• AND… “if you want to boost retention you have to stop making excuses and start making a plan.

Excuses.  Excuses. Excuses.

I’ve followed  Claire for nearly 30 years. She’s smart, experienced and, best of all, no-nonsense.  As a consultant she’s heard all the excuses, but she’s also taken the time to survey the field and identify what she calls “understandable” excuses.  Here’s Claire’s verbatim listing:

• Lack of time and talent: The number one reason organizations don’t make retention a higher priority is they can’t find sufficient hours in a day or sufficient staff to whom to assign tasks.
• Lack of a plan: In second place was lack of a written plan.
• Lack of knowledge, skills and resources: Next comes lack of budget and lack of knowledge and skills.
• Leadership inertia or apathy: Failure to question the status quo also scored a reasonably high response.
• Aging donors: Folks needing to replace donors who are dying, are making the mistake of not at least balancing acquisition with retention in order to keep the new donors being acquired.
• Lack of ability to get thank you’s out fast enough: Folks the acknowledgement process takes too much time to ensure a quick turn-around.

NOW HEAR THIS…Although these excuses are “understandable”, and even reasonable, “you don’t have permission to use them.”  At least not if you want to increase retention and build value in your file.

A Hopeful End to The Time/Talent/ Acknowledgement Process Excuse

There’s no question that most nonprofits are stretched to the limit when it comes to staffing.  So, it’s understandable that thank yous, acknowledgements and other critically important retention tasks get shoved to the back burner or even shoved under the rug.

Well, that excuse is about to become as believable as “the dog ate my homework.”

Over at the TrueGivers Labs  my colleagues are preparing to release an application on a variety of CRMs. Called donormailers it will enable you send out thank yous (or any other type of message) to your donors with the click of a mouse.  That’s right, a personal, customized thank you, printed and mailed First Class the day you post their gift on your CRM or database.  And all for little more than the cost of the First Class stamp.  Even better, for those who want to make a follow-up phone call or visit you’ll receive an email the day your Thank You is delivered.

So much for those “no time/cumbersome process” excuses. No more hunting down a mail shop to gouge you on small quantities.  No more interruption of your work day tied up at the office printer.  Cheaper than doing it yourself.  In the mail the same day you click and for those who want to make a follow-up phone call or visit you’ll receive an email the same day your Thank You is delivered.

If you want to be placed on the list of Beta Testers just drop a note Brandon Palmer over at TrueGivers — bpalmer@truegivers.com–and let him know what CRM you’re using. He’ll take it from there.

Reconsider Your Priorities.

So here’s Claire’s advice –based on her survey of the field — on how you can best prioritize retention while keeping up with other important tasks. In her words:

• “Interestingly, some folks who’d not prioritized retention in the past were now in a place where they felt acquisition had to be their priority because their remaining cadre of donors were aging. While this is understandable, where will these folks be in the future if they continueto make retention a lower priority? Another pool of donors that dwindles as it ages?
• “Others commented that the acknowledgement process takes too much time to ensure a quick turn-around.I completely understand, as I struggled with this myself when working in the trenches. It’s no excuse for offering a poor donor experience, however. What I did was convene an interdisciplinary committee (including everyone who touched the donor’s gift – online or offline – and acknowledgement letter or email) to figure out all the points of delay and then brainstorm solutions.  We tightened up turn-around significantly as a result.

“There’s always room for, and a pathway towards, improvement.  Please understand I’m not suggesting you stop trying to acquire new donors.  I’m asking you to reconsider your priorities.

“At the very least, there should be a balance. I would strongly argue, however, that retention should edge out acquisition. Because, until you’ve renewed someone, they’re not really a member of your family. They’re just a visitor.

“By now you’re familiar with the “churn and burn” data. The Fundraising Effectiveness Project has been monitoring results for a decade, and retention is not improving. Last year, only 23% of first-time donors made a second gift. Donors? Or one-time visitors?”

CLAIRE’S  GRATITUDE PLAN:

1. “If donors give online, send a thank you that way. And not just an automated-looking receipt.

• “Send online donors immediately to a custom, branded donation thank you page with messaging and images tied to your appeal. This reassures them their gift was received and will be used as intended. This starts your relationship out with them feeling they can trust you, and trust is absolutely the foundation of any lasting relationship.
• “Then follow up right away with an email, text or social media thank you (depending on the platform they used to make the gift). Personalize this to the extent possible by using their first name. You can even prepare a 15-second video thank you (use your cell phone to film yourself saying thanks so much!). This shows your donor you know them, or at least would like to become their friend. Since not everyone does this, you’ll stand out!

2. “If donors give via snail mail, send a thank you that way. And don’t delay!

• “Send offline donors a letter within 48 hours. Promptness today is expected. Amazon does it. You have to do it too. Sorry, but that’s life in our digitally-revolutionized, instant gratification age.
• “Consider making a phone call right away. If you can’t get your letter out right away, this at least lets your donor know their gift was received and very much appreciated. You can leave a message if you don’t get them in person. And if you can’t call everyone, pick a subset to call (e.g., all gifts over $100; all repeat donors; all first-time donors, etc.). Leah Eustace at Good Works found “A one-minute thank-you call to new donors increased conversion by over 30%.“

3. “No matter how donors give, think about ways to deliverplanned acts of kindnessthroughout the year. Adopt a gratitude culture and make saying thank you part of everyone’s job, not just the fundraising staff. Here are just a few concrete suggestions:

• “Keep a stack of five note cards on your desk. Each day write a little thank you to someone who did you a kindness that week. Perhaps a donor, or maybe a work colleague. At the end of the week, replenish your stock. Ask others on your staff to do the same.
• “Set aside 15 minutes each day for thank you calls or texts or tweets. Tailor your method to the communication preference of your recipient. You don’t have to call, text or tweet only major donors. Reach out to anyone who strikes you as deserving of a little hug that week.
• “Give your board members assignments to call and thank donors. I’ve found they love doing this, and it has the added benefit of getting them comfortable talking with donors (and on a path to becoming more comfortable with fundraising). Whenever I’ve done this, after a while folks actually asked me to give them these calls!
• “Assign responsibility for donor service.  This can be either a dedicated staff member (e.g., “Donor Services Manager”) or responsibilities can be assigned as part and parcel of one or more staff members’ job descriptions. Based on years of experience, I can guarantee you if you don’t assign wooing your supporters as a responsibility, it will fall to the back burner.
• “Make sure there is a manager overseeing the Gratitude Plan and holding folks accountable. If you’re a one-person shop, ask your board or development committee chair to hold you accountable. This means talking about the importance of donor retention at board and development committee meetings.”

In short, “Avoid the trap of simply talking about how to find new donors. Who cares, if you can’t keep them?

 Not for #GivingTuesday Only

Of course, I hope you’ll take this post and the gems in it from Claire and Bloomerang to heart as you prepare your response to #GivingTuesday donors.  But remember, gratitude and attention to your donors is an every day, every event concern.

Thank you Claire. Thank you Bloomerang.  An Agitator Raiseto you both.

Roger

P.S.  As you prepare for Thanksgiving and #GivingTuesday you won’t want to miss Nick’s post on Wednesday – 50 Ways to Thank Your Donor.