Shifting Your Focus
To Deepen Donor Relationships

If you want money… Ask for advice.
If you want advice… Ask for money.

This adage serves us well as a reminder when we are going on solicitation calls. What lesson does it teach for day-to-day contact with donors and volunteer leaders?

It’s really about cultivation and donor involvement, isn’t it? This simple and elegant lesson is what is behind one of the “Seven Deadly Sins” of campaigning: Don’t just rush to the “ask.” You cannot look at prospective donors only as “pots of money.” Get to know your prospect to learn what he or she is passionate about. Involve your donor – and prospective donor – in your plans. Ask for their input – and MEAN IT.

There’s the catch. To be effective, you not only must seek the advice and participation of your donor, but you must sincerely desire it. Hollow, insincere, or contrived nods toward donor involvement are nearly always seen for what they are: An “Eddy Haskell-ish” approach to just getting into the donor’s pockets.

But what about current donors?
Is this adage a guidebook for deepening our relationships with them? How can you draw upon your knowledge and relationship of the donor or volunteer to increase their interest and involvement with your organization?

Some Tips…

Are You Reciprocating Generosity?
Who are you doing business with? We all get so caught up in our daily “to do’s” that we can fail to be creative in how we appreciate and cultivate our donors. Sure, we look to our vendors for possible sources of support. But are there persons or businesses within your donor base you can choose to use when you need a printer, a repairman, new carpet, or even boxed lunches for your volunteer meetings?

Why purchase coffee and rolls for your development committee from the national franchise down the street when, by taking a few minutes longer on your morning drive, you can stop at the local pastry shop or grocer owned by the family that has supported you for years or who gave to your last special event?

You may already be attuned to this. But what about the rest of your organization?
It may be your CEO, COO or facilities manager who knows and defines your organization’s needs. What can you – as the development professional – do to make your donors known to them and to help them appreciate their value to you as an organization? Are those key administrative staff aware of who your donors are and at what levels they are giving?

This is a key opportunity that many development officers miss – and many of us lament not being able to more fully engage our program and administrative staff in understanding the importance of customer service in development work.

You shouldn’t depend on your newsletter or annual report to do this for you. Think of your internal staff constituency as another important audience for publicizing how you appreciate your donors. Celebrate gifts openly within your office. Use your internal e-mail to let people know about important support --- and supporters. Take time in your development reports to share who your donors are, and what businesses they run. Help your colleagues at your organization tune their antennae to important donor relationships and how your organization can patronize their businesses.

Time (Really) is Money
How are you spending your time? What portion of each day (or week, or month, or year?) are you spending thinking about – and caring about – what’s going on with your most valued donors and volunteers? Sure, most of us make visits over the holidays. What are you doing the other 48 to 50 weeks of the year?

In a previous article in “New$ You Can U$e,” we discussed the “Mackay 66.” (click here to go to that article) Harvey Mackay, author of Swim with the Sharks, lays out 66 questions you should be able to answer about your most important clients (read: donors and prospects). What do you know about your donors, their businesses and their families? You can get some of this through donor research, but you will remember it better – and it will become a part of your relationship with your donor – when you simply take the time to get to know them and to care.

A note about allocating your time. Challenge yourself to allocate time each day – or at the very least, each week – to make donor contact. Why? Until you get “in the mode” of doing this and learn how pleasurable and valuable this activity can be, placing it on your daily or weekly “to do” list prioritizes the calls for you and forces you to do it…now. Otherwise, you risk skipping this “important and but not urgent” activity in favor of less important but more urgent matters.

Be ‘Present’ For Your Donors
Sometimes we feel like we are rushing from activity to activity, from meeting to meeting, just to make it through the day. Just as insincere cultivation contacts leave the donor feeling hollow, harried and distracted contacts are frustrating for both sides. Don’t rush the cultivation visit. Take a deep breath and relax. Be ‘present’ for the donor. Give yourself permission to be where you are. You are doing important work that helps the donor learn more about who you are and what your organization is doing, and helps you learn what drives your donor to be involved.

Remember Them Often
What do you do with this knowledge? If you put it in your database only to review right before your next call, you are missing the boat.

Use what you learn to help you be a better steward of your donor relationship. Take time to show you care and stay in contact between visits.

This is Part II of the “Mackay 66.”
One local businessman has honed the art of doing this. It’s not unusual for his acquaintances and business contacts to receive handwritten notes from him at special times during the year – not just at the expected times around the holidays, but on birthdays, anniversaries, when the recipient has received some special recognition – even Valentine’s Day, the first day of Spring, St. Patrick’s Day, and more. And these notes are not written as veiled solicitations for business. They sincerely convey the businessman’s desire to let the recipient know that he or she is being thought of that day.

Whether it is learning how you can build a reciprocal business relationship with your donors and volunteers, getting to know them better, or keeping in more frequent contact, all of this takes time. Your challenge:

Evaluate the activities that fill your days. Are you prioritizing the “important but not urgent” work of building deeper relationships with your donors? Make your commitment today. Take small steps and enjoy the personal and professional payoffs it will provide.

To learn about effective donor cultivation in preparing for a campaign, plan to attend one of our Spring 2004 capital campaign seminars, with upcoming dates in Syracuse, NY; Providence, RI; Minneapolis and San Diego. More information is available on the web at www.jeffreybyrneandassociates.com.