Learning By Giving
For a fundraiser, no doubt it’s great to work in an organization that has sufficient resources to provide for training and mentoring, workshops and conferences, and consulting help.
But what about all the fundraisers toiling away in small organisations without such budgets, or where the responsibility for fundraising is just one of many aspects of the job description?
How do they learn about effective fundraising?
One option is to learn by giving … being a donor.
[Indeed, even if you do have an ample budget for training and upscaling, to not donate at least to your most direct competitors is — professionally speaking — just plain dumb.]
While you might discover useful tactics by watching how other charities treat you as a donor, the more significant benefit might be in discovering what kinds of fundraising appeals move you. It’s a way of re-connecting with the emotional aspect of giving … in a way that might not happen when — jaded — you’re pushing out the door against deadline the 57th special appeal drafted for your own cause or charity!
Fundraiser Laura Croudace eloquently addresses the issue of ‘learning from giving’ in this article posted on SOFII: Why I support 12 different charities.
Laura isn’t giving merely to learn … obviously she cares about the causes she supports.
But she also appreciates and talks about reaping the benefits of giving:
“I want direct mail steadily pouring through my letterbox, I want my email inbox full of inspiring fundraisers’ emails. I want to learn how to recycle that feeling they gave me, use it to gather new donors and make my donors understand what amazing work they’ve empowered us to do.”
She talks about an online video she received via email from one of her supported charities:
“I wasn’t in ‘fundraiser mode’ when I read it, I was actually out shopping, but I kept thinking about it and I watched it again the next day. That was when it hit me – they made me feel valued and a part of the organisation. I realised this was a very fortunate lesson to learn from. This was a course in how to look after donors well, from the off. This was a lesson that money can’t buy. You’ve just got to follow your emotional barometer and hope that by supporting new charities they will teach you something new.
“I believe they will.”
Have you learned by giving lately?
Tom
P.S. If you want to be inspired about fundraisers, about being a fundraiser, read Laura’s entire article. She gets an Agitator raise!
7 responses to “Learning By Giving”
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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Learning by being a donor. Lovely.
I’m rather amazed (and highly disappointed) at the number of fundraisers who aren’t philanthropists. And I’m intentionally using the word “philanthropist” … voluntary action for the common good.
Irrelevant how much the fundraiser gives… but give you must. How can we fundraisers work in this field without giving ourselves. And I mean give to more than the agency you work for. If fundraisers aren’t passionate about philanthropy … then get out of the field. I’m talking passionate about philanthropy itself… not just a particular cause.
And by the way… Here’s a question to ask one’s self… Have you made a bequest in your will to some charity? Or to multiple charities? That’s passion, too.
Okay. That’s my rant for today.
I would go even further and suggest that all fundraisers serve on a board of directors somewhere.
What? Give my time, my skills, away for free? Take a busman’s holiday?
Yes.
As a nonprofit consulting agency, I require all of Cause Effective’s staff to serve somewhere voluntary. There’s nothing like serving on a board to get a good dose of humility about what it really takes to be a board member, what’s “natural” behavior in that type of role, and how board members need to be treated to get their highest and best use out of them.
Plus it helps move staff away from “demonizing” the board when we-are-them in a different hat.
Oh yes, I just received a beautiful acknowledgement letter in the mail yesterday!
Unfortunately it arrived two months after I made my gift, was digitally signed in black ink, and thanked me for my gift in MEMORY of a dear friend who is very much alive and well. It also assured me that they have notified her family of my gift… I’d love to see THAT letter.
Yikes. Just had to vent! Worse donor experience of my life, from start to finish, with this organization.
I’ve learned more about fundraising from my ‘two gifts a week’ experiment than I’ve learned in any training. Good intentions abound but do not good systems make. The devil is in the details.
Likewise, Nick, I made a birthday gift in early May for a friend of mine. She and I both received acknowledgement letters four weeks after the fact. Oddly this particular organization has one of the most donor-focused websites and online giving experiences around – but the direct mail follow up didn’t jibe.
Follow @thewhinydonor on Twitter, give 3-5 friends $10-20 and ask them to make a donation and report back, take my Power of Thank You course, download my Donor Love Toolkit for ideas: https://pamelagrow36.leadpages.net/donorlovetoolkit/. This stuff isn’t rocket science.
Great post. I too am amazed at how few fundraisers are donating to other charities, never mind their own.
One of the questions I typically ask when I present on Monthly Giving programs is: who is a monthly donor?
And then there’s this big hole in the room with just a few hands going up.
Seriously? You want to run a monthly giving program but you are not even donating to your own program? not even 5 or 10 a month?
I give to all my clients and more and I’m a monthly donor to a large number of programs, of course, that’s my business, but I also do it because I care about these organizations and he, I typically learn from every single one of them.
I just finished the book Every Gift Matters, by Carrie Morgridge and John Perry, I can highly recommend it, because every gift does matter! large and small!
Thanks for the book recommendation, Erica! I have always started monthly giving programs with commitment from the board. It’s such a great opportunity for board members to show their support and it also allow them to stretch their gift.
Nick Stinson, have you told the organization that it fouled up so badly? Did you add the consequences for you and them? I spell out this obvious point mostly as self-motivation. Three organizations I support — two of them for years — have each disappointed me in the last few weeks and in entirely avoidable ways (no email acknowledgement of online gift, late-arriving “thank you” letter, no acknowledgement of any sort to query sent in along with gift, etc, etc). I hereby pledge to inform each of them, in detail. Grudges are for folks that are NOT fundraisers (disclosure: at most, I’m only an honorary one).