Tom and I’ve been focusing lots on the importance of ‘donor-focused fundraising’ and essential ‘donor experiences’. In fact, we’ve invited Agitator readers to join us on February 17^th for a free webinar on fixing the donor experience.

Fixing the problem of donor loss or seizing the opportunity of donor loyalty begins with an understanding of some fundamentals about relationships in general, and more specifically how these fundamentals apply to donors. Here’s what I say about it in my book, Retention Fundraising: the art and science of keeping donors for life.

There is a sizable body of work by academics and practitioners who’ve devised a framework called ‘relationship theory’ to determine and describe the dynamics and essential ingredients of both personal and commercial relationships.

Hands-on experience and decades of research make clear that the underlying elements constituting a healthy interpersonal relationship — the one you have with your best friend, your spouse or partner, and trusted colleagues at work — also apply to relationships in business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C), and nonprofit to donor (N2D).

(I’ve included in the Appendix B of Retention Fundraising a list of resources on relationship theory should you wish to learn more about it.)

The Twin Pillars Supporting a Solid Relationship

There are two key pillars that go into creating a positive nonprofit-to-donor relationship, the very kind that leads to higher loyalty, commitment, and retention:

Functional Connection. The journey begins with the desire on the donor’s part to establish a basic (what social scientists call functional) connection with your organization.

The main characteristics of a successful functional connection are reliability and consistency. The donor comes to know what he or she can reliably expect from you, and that experiences with your organization are consistent.

For example, you acquire a first-time donor using a powerful message to save the baby seals. It’s reasonable to assume the donor has a special regard for animals, in this case baby seals. So your follow-up appeals would naturally focus on your work in this area. That would be consistent. What you shouldn’t do is acknowledge the donor’s original gift with an equally powerful message about the dangers of plutonium and then follow up with a well-crafted appeal to help stop strip mining. There’s no consistency there. And chances are, no additional gifts.

Or, say John Smith sends in his first check. His acknowledgment reads, “Dear John Smythe.” He calls and requests the spelling of his surname be corrected and is met with the uncaring voice of a rude clerk.

No reliability. No additional gifts.

If your organization fails to deliver both reliable and consistent experiences, you will fail at retention. Period.

Conversely, when you achieve a solid level of functional connection, the donor’s level of trust allows you move to the next, vitally important tier of the relationship.

Personal Connection. This is the more emotional part of the relationship. Personal connections are actions you take to make the donor feel an important part of the cause — things such as giving recognition, seeking the donor’s opinion, sending timely and relevant communications, and offering other forms of involvement.

In the vernacular of the social scientists, personal connection is the fidelity part of a relationship. The bond saying there’s a two-way street of give and take, of mutual respect, with the donor believing the organization knows him or her and truly cares.

Below is a diagram showing how the main types of donor experiences combine to build commitment.

[Click image to enlarge ]

When donors are both functionally satisfied and personally connected to your organization, they recommend you to others, stay with you, and are willing to forgive the occasional mistake (the two-month lapse in correcting the spelling of a name, for example). In short, they trust you because your actions have demonstrated you care about their needs.

In short: Consistency + Reliability = Trust. And in all relationships, ‘Trust’ is the linchpin.

Roger