How & Why to Engage Your Board in Stewardship Practices Rebecca Jacobson, MPH SCANPO Weekly Wednesday Webinar, August 19,

Today’s Goal To introduce a paradigm shift regarding fundraising.

Donor Retention is a critical aspect of fundraising and must be an active concern and priority for all nonprofits.

Poll #1 Does your organization ever look at or talk about Donor Retention rates?

Training Objectives 1. To provide enough justification to convince you and your Board to begin talking about Donor Retention. 2. To convince you to calculate your organization’s Donor Retention rate over the past several years. 3. To give you a starting place for effective and “doable” Donor Stewardship practices that you are comfortable asking Board members to engage in.

About Rebecca After 20+ years in nonprofit, launched Development for Good Why development consulting?

Attendee Overview 19 Executive Director/CEO’s 19 Development Staff 3 Marketing/PR/Programs 2 Board members 7 Other

Sectors Represented 2 Arts 2 Consulting 4 Business 4 Conservation 6 Health services 6 Youth Services 8 Education (Lower & Higher) 9 Human services

Donor Stewardship – What is It? The administration of gifts The ongoing relationship with a donor after a gift has been made A process by which the organization develops a relationship with a donor and strengthens and preserves that relationship over time

Donor stewardship is about relationship building which leads to deeper donor commitment and more long-term financial support.

Why Current Donors Matter The average nonprofit has: a 60-70% chance of obtaining additional contributions from existing donors a 20-40% chance of securing a gift from a recently lapsed donor less than a 2% chance of receiving a gift from a prospect - Roger Craver, “Retention Fundraising” (2014)

Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) Established in 2006 by Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute Conducts research on fundraising effectiveness Publishes the annual Fundraising Effectiveness Project Survey

Donor Retention Over the Past Decade 2006: 50% 2013: 39%, lowest rate in 8 years 2014: 43%, first upward trend in since the 2007 drop Fundraising Effectiveness Project

Donor Retention Fundraising Year 3,576 survey respondents Median Donor Retention: 43% - First-time Donor Retention: 23% For every 100 new and recovered donors, 102 were lost through attrition Fundraising Effectiveness Project

Calculating Donor Retention Rates Need to work with your database administrator May need to utilize software technical support to figure out how to pull the right comparative data If you don’t have a donor database, it could be labor intensive; get help from a volunteer, intern, or Board member

All Donors Retention Rate 1. Get your donor count from 2 consecutive full years (number of unique donors, not number of donations). 2. Count the number of donors who gave to your organization in year one (e.g., 2013). 3. Count the number of donors from the same pool who gave in the second year (2014). This does not include new donors in year Divide #2 by #1. 5. This is your retention rate from year 1 to year 2.

First-time Donor Retention Rate 1. From the same 2 years, count the number of first-time donors in the first year (again, number of unique donors, not number of donations from them). 2. Count the number of donors from the same pool who gave in the second year (2014). 3. Divide #2 by #1. 4. This is your first-time donor retention rate from year 1 to year 2.

Look at Your Retention Trends Over Several Years How do you compare to the median from the 2014 Fundraising Effectiveness Project? – 43% all donors – 23% first-time donors

Donor Retention Impact A 10% upward trend in donor retention can DOUBLE the lifetime value of donor giving.

“Taking positive steps to reduce donor and gift losses is the least expensive strategy for increasing net fundraising gains.” Fundraising Effectiveness Project

Questions/Comments?

More of the Paradigm Shift: Donor Stewardship should be an ongoing fundraising activity. All year long, all the time.

Why Engage Board Members Stewardship is an imperative yet “non-ask” fundraising activity. Eliminates the “I’m not comfortable asking for money” barrier.

Where to Start: Thank You Calls! When donors received a thank you call from a board member within 24 hours of the organization receiving the gift, the donor gave 39% more (on their next gift) than the other donors who did not receive a call. - Penelope Burk

How to Engage Board Members Start with buy-in from your board leadership And start small

Educate Your Leaders about Importance of Donor Retention Share the research and your retention rates with Development Chair and Board Officers Get buy-in to add “Donor Stewardship” as an ongoing fundraising activity Request that someone be named (or volunteer) as Stewardship Chairperson (someone who is strong at and comfortable with relationship building)

Add Donor Retention as an Agenda Item at the Next Board Meeting Share the research and your retention rates Explain Stewardship as a “non-ask” fundraising task Ask for a Stewardship volunteers; must be comfortable making calls and/or hand-writing thank you notes Stewardship should become part of every fundraising discussion at board meetings; volunteers should share their stories about the phone calls and what they learned

Stewardship Volunteers Need to be responsive on short notice Can articulate your organization's mission and talk about programs and services Need phone callers AND note writers

Establish Stewardship Tracking System Staff person who administers donations must supply donor info to Stewardship volunteers and record outcomes Keep is simple but consistent Record in donor’s database record: the steward, date/method contacted, any info or feedback provided by the steward

Basics of a Donor Thank You Call NO ASKING!! For money, in-kind, event attendance, etc. Seeking a basic human connection Try to understand donor’s motives and interest in your organization Take notes to be entered into donor database

Stewardship Priorities 1. First-time Donors 2. Loyal / long-term Donors 3. “Large” Donors

First-time Donor Thank You Call – A 5 minute call; perfect for Board members! – Suggested Script: Introduce yourself and your role in organization Thank you for your recent donation of $XX Why did you choose to give to our organization? How can we make you feel your donation was worthwhile? Do you have any questions about programs & services? End with another Thank You

Long-term / Loyal Donor Thank You Calls – Suggest donors who have given every year for past 3-5 years – A 10-minute call; staff should provide donor’s giving history – Suggested Script: Introduce yourself and your role in organization We’re reaching out to our long-term supporters just to call and say thank you for supporting us. Why did you originally start giving to our organization? ASK THEIR OPINION: do you have any suggestions of things we can be doing better? Do you have any questions about our programs & services? Thank You

Large Donor Thank You Calls – Development staff, Development Committee, ED and/or Board should decide minimum giving level for calls – A 10 minute call – Suggested Script: Introduce yourself and your role in organization Thank you for your recent donation of $XX, our Board wants you to know how much we appreciate your support. Why did you choose to give to our organization? How can we make you feel your donation was worthwhile? Do you have any questions about programs & services? Thank you

If the Phone Call Goes Longer and Becomes Engaging Take an interest in learning about the donor Be a good listener and take notes to pass back to staff for the donor database record Share about yourself, personal and what you love about the organization Try to make a sincere connection

If You Don’t Reach the Donor by Phone Leave a detailed voice message! Include your name, connection to the organization, reason for your call (thank you!) and your call-back number with an invitation to give you a call back Consider making a second call a few days later at a different time, especially for “larger” contributions

When You Don’t Have a Phone Number for Your Donor Write a note! – Use personal note card, NOT organization’s stationary – Hand-write, don’t type – Same premise and content as thank you call but a hand-written note instead – Invite donor to give you a call and include your call-back number

Keep the Conversation Going Have Stewardship volunteers share their donor conversations at every Board meeting Development staff and leaders keep up with Donor Retention research and best practices and share with the Board

Set Retention Goals Ideally, your Board will vote on an annually retention goal for all and first-time donors Calculate annually as part of year-end processing Report and discuss with the Board along with year-end financial reports

Organizational Differences Modify these Stewardship approaches for your organization’s size and Board capacity. But start somewhere!

Final Word on Stewardship “The only way to truly steward your donors is to draw them into a deeper relationship with your organization. Deep relationships require a give and take, and a greater association than simply writing checks.” - Joe Garecht,

My Consulting Services Facilitate board discussion or basic development training starting at $350 Provide more in-depth training or Board retreat on Fundraising Best Practices Write Fundraising/Development Plan Work with staff to establish stewardship practices and systems

Poll #2 Based on what your heard today, how likely is it that you will try to calculate your Donor Retention rates for the most recent fundraising year?

Questions/Comments?

Contact Me Rebecca Jacobson, MPH