I just noticed this — not unfamiliar — fundraiser’s lament from the trenches: “Our donors don’t appreciate us!”

Phil McCorkle, writing a column in the Salem, Oregon Statesman Journal directed at any and all donors who might be reading (i.e., not specifically the donors to his own nonprofit), says:

“Over the course of 28 years working in local nonprofits — with 22 years in fundraising roles — I’ve developed a growing awareness that donors may not always realize their importance and value to the nonprofits they support.”

The rest of his article — Does financially supporting nonprofits matter? — is a plea for donors to understand that they truly do matter. Really truly.

Phil talks about the need for funding stability, the increasing difficulty of breaking through the communications clutter, competition from crowdfunding and other ‘fad’ fundraising (often from distant fundraisers) that robs local organizations and makes their traditional relationship building even harder, and difficulty adapting programs to fit the times.

The column had the sound of … “We lose donors through no fault of our own.”

Although Phil did note:

“A part of the problem may well be the fault of nonprofits, themselves. Caught in the conundrum between controlling administrative/fundraising costs vs. directly spending money providing programs, sometimes they neglect to adequately acknowledge the very donors whose contributions are the fuel that makes programs possible.”

That’s more on the money, Phil. If your donors don’t appreciate you, the first thing to do is to take another look at how you demonstrate that you appreciate your donors.

There are things you can control, and things you cannot. The most important factor in retaining donors — the experience you offer them — is one thing you can and must control.

How might you begin? You’ll find some answers here …

On February 17 from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. Eastern, join in the Agitator/DonorVoice Webinar titled: How to Gain Massive ROI by Understanding and Fixing Donor Experience.

Registration is free to Agitator readers.

Tom

P.S. If it’s any consolation, it’s not just nonprofits who ignore or botch the customer experience. Check out this infographic, which simply relates to how well (or not) call centers : Are Your Customers an a Journey to Nowhere?