Kristin McCurry of MINDset Direct is one of our favorite co-conspirators. As today’s Guest Agitator, she poses a question all fundraisers have asked in their darkest moments … Does it really matter what we do as fundraisers?! Or is “good donor behavior” simply built into some individuals who we are lucky enough to initially attract into our charities or causes?

Kristin has launched a bit of an experiment to test the “nature vs. nurture” proposition, specifically in the realm of sustainer giving. Here’s her post.

Nature Or Nurture?

Last night was date night at my house and we elected to see a movie – a rare occurrence in a house with a schedule like ours.

The film – The Kids Are All Right – is the story of a family – a complicated, modern day portrait of people brought together by circumstance and biology after 18 years. At one point, Jules, played by Julianne Moore, says she “keeps seeing his kids expressions” in the face of Paul, Mark Ruffalo’s character, who contributed to her family on a, ah, cellular level.

As the mother of an almost 14 year old boy, I think a lot about how he’s growing and changing . . . what is just “him” on a cellular level and what I can do to continue to nurture the man he’s becoming . . . why animals eat their young (did I mention he’s a teenager?)

As a fundraiser, this makes me think about our donors and what’s their nature vs. nurture proposition? What brings them to our organizations in the first place and how what we do engages them and helps them grow into the best supporters we can make them? How much does our behavior – our reactions to their gifts, our story telling and lesson teaching, even our day-to-day business rules – affect the role they play in our big, happy family of donors?

How much of our relationship is written at the start, based on who they are, versus who we are?

These considerations and complications are of particular interest when looking at your monthly donors. These sustainers have traditionally been the most loyal, the most valuable members of your donor family. But in recent years, they’ve grown more complicated. They join through a multitude of channels, pay their pledges in a variety of ways, and don’t always act as we assume they will.

And sometimes, factors outside of our control – and theirs – impact their giving.

In the spring of 2009, most organizations with robust monthly donor programs experienced an historic occurrence – the highest credit card rejection rate ever – due to the changes in how financial institutions were managing credit lines for their card holders. How did your organization react to this? Did you even know it was happening?

Last month, my MINDset colleagues and I began an experiment into this big Nature versus Nurture idea and how it affects these valuable supporters. We’re “secret shopping” some of the largest and most influential monthly donor programs out there. We’re sponsoring kids and kittens, watching out for human rights and wildlife, and lots of other good causes. We joined the fight through TV ads, the mail, over the phone and sometimes out of the clear blue.

And now, we’re listening. We’re waiting to see how you treat us as donors. You’re responsible for our care, including upgrading our pledges, feeding us a steady diet of our case for giving, asking for extra gifts and making sure we feel loved. And we’re not going to always behave either. We’re going to miss a monthly payment here and there. We’re going to ask tough questions. We might even let our credit cards expire!

Stay tuned for updates.

Kristin McCurry

P.S. Don’t bother trying to find us on your database. We’re under deep cover for this one.

Tom