Advanced Fundraising: Stewardship
Stewardship is one of the most important things you can do to keep donors, volunteers and givers in your organization.
Understanding stewardship means you know why it’s so important to get that thank you letter out within 24 hours, but more than that, it’s about understanding how to get along with people, and how people work.
Developmental psychology shows us that people respond to attention. Children given large amounts of positive attention by adults have happier childhoods. Adults work on the same principle. Most donors and volunteers do want attention from you. If they give to you, they care about you, and they want you to show that you care about them, too. They want your gratitude, and conveying that, in as many ways as possible, helps them feel closer to your cause.
Successful fundraising is about asking the right person at the right time. In addition to asking the right person at the right time, stewardship means continuing the relationship when you’re not asking. Although each time you contact a donor is an opportunity to ask for a gift, you don’t have to do that. The more you connect with your donor in between asking for money, the better they will feel about your organization.
When you ask for donations, you should have communicated at least seven times with your donor before that.
These communications can take the form of newsletters, e-newsletters, a prompt phone-call to say thank you for the donation, a quick update about the program they care about, an invitation to a friendraiser (like a steamboat ride or luncheon!), an invitation to come to your open house, a drawing from a child in your program, a stunning natural photograph from your environmental program, a holiday card, your annual report, etc.
In short, donors may want to be anonymous, but they will never say, “Please don’t thank me.” Stewardship is about cultivating donor relationships to be the best they can be.
Does your organization have a Director of Stewardship? Or a stewardship plan? What can you do to implement the principles of stewardship on a day to day basis? Have you thrown a ballgowns and tennis shoes event? What are some unique ways you have used Stewardship in the past?
