I often hear this from nonprofit leaders: “We can always count on our regular donors. We need new donors who make BIGGER gifts!”

I understand your urgency. Let’s say your donor list includes Mary Williams, who first came to a fundraising event your group put on some years ago. She gives $100 a year, every year.

It’s possible that Mary’s budget simply won’t allow for more.

But it’s also possible that Mary could give more, even a lot more. You simply haven’t given her a good reason to do it.

Here’s the bottom line (and the challenge):

You need to know how Mary views your group and her own giving to support your work.

Why is Mary not increasing her gift, if she could? The following are among several possibilities.

Mary likes your group’s work, but she doesn’t think her gift makes enough difference to increase it.
It doesn’t occur to Mary that the value of her gift, the same amount every year, is not keeping up with inflation, let alone keeping up with specific cost increases your group may be encountering.
Even though Mary knows you do good work, she isn’t tracking any of your particular programs or results. At this point, if someone asked her what your group does, her answer would be quite general, and maybe not even accurate.

You may ask, “How can I afford to spend time on Mary when I have a portfolio of 400 donors who give at her level, and 300 donors who give more?”

Good question. Given what you know right now, you probably can’t afford to spend time on Mary individually, because you don’t know how she views your group, and you don’t know what motivates her to give.

But here’s why you need to focus as soon as possible on Mary and her giving:

We all know that ongoing donors are valuable – for one thing, in any given year they are much more likely to give than someone who has never given. Also, research[1] shows that loyal donors like Mary – no matter the dollar amount they give every year – are more likely than others to leave gifts to your group through their estates, as long as they know you need those gifts, are reminded in your communications, and thanked frequently for their intentions.

But we also know that loyal donors are telling you something, now: They care enough to give every year. Your group is part of their life. And in some cases, they could give much more than they are giving now. Here’s the bottom line:

You need to know how each of these loyal donors views your group and their own giving to support your work.

The first step is sending each of them a survey. But not just any survey, and NOT a survey designed by your direct mail vendor that also asks them for a gift. (Groups send these pretty frequently, and although they get some responses, many donors view it as a slick brochure that is trying to ask them to give in a slightly different way.)

Send a survey that will invite them to tell you what they think.

Develop a 5 – 10 question survey that you send out both electronically and on paper (not slick or fancy paper; something obviously directly FROM YOUR GROUP) – and give your donors a chance to choose which they fill out. Make sure that at least 3 or 4 of your questions are open-ended (“What”, “Why” or “How”) and give them plenty of room to type or write. Do give them a self-addressed envelope with the paper survey, and ask them to return it within about a month.

What might the 5 – 10 questions look like? Here are some that I like (the first three require a free-form box for the answer):

1) You’ve given every year for a long time. What keeps you giving?

2) What’s most meaningful to you about giving to [this organization]?

3) Of the things [this organization] does, what are you most passionate about and why?

4) We want to make sure you’re feeling how much we appreciate you. How do you prefer to be acknowledged for your support? (check all that apply)

__ Letter to thank you and for tax documentation

__ Listing on our website

__ Listing in program events

__ Call from one of our Board or Staff for a brief chat (and thank you!)

5) If you learned that our services cost 3% more to deliver this year, at the same level as last year, and inflation was 2%, how would you view an invitation from us to give more than you did last year? (Check the answer that fits your response best.)

__ I would try to give more – this is important information.

__ I would like to talk with one of your staff about this.

__ I have budgeted the same amount, and would need time to consider this.

NOTE ABOUT QUESTION 5: Their response can give you permission to be specific about asking respondents to give more in 2019. If they check the first response, you can ask them to give somewhere between 105 – 125% of what they gave in 2018. If they increase, they are signaling they can give more!

Next, you need to listen and respond to what they told you. Analyze the responses and put them into each donor’s electronic record to reflect that you listened and acted on their answers. Give yourself a few weeks to get back to each of those who answered, and tell them how much it meant to you. A phone call (or voice mail message) is great, but don’t make all those phone calls yourself – ask Board members and other Staff members to help. [Make sure your caller has the donor’s survey answers in front of them, of course, and when you are preparing the callers, stress NO DEFENSIVENESS; instead, do lots of listening and “thank you” responses.]

A well-designed, well-targeted donor

survey, conducted and followed up in

the first half of the calendar year, will

increase giving for your group in 2019.

What’s next? You should start a “meaningful conversations” project that allows you to sit down over coffee with each of your 100 most loyal donors once every 3 years. We will discuss that outreach in a future post.

I wish you joy in the new year!