If you become a member of the American Farmland Trust’s Barnraisers Society by giving the group $1,000 or more, be ready to receive some apple butter — or walnuts, honey, or other treats.
Those are the kinds of thank-you gifts the agriculture nonprofit sends each October to donors who give at that level or higher through an effort it calls Bounty of the Land.
You can see details about the mailing in the group’s stewardship plan. Created in fiscal 2016, the plan maps out the number and type of mailings different donors will receive and sets out each staff members’ responsibilities for them, from start to finish.
Leaders of the trust, which works to protect agricultural and ranch land and promote environmentally sound farming practices, report an increase in gifts and better donor retention in the year since they launched the stewardship plan.
The nonprofit is seeing other benefits, according to Robert Connelly, director of annual and special giving. One major improvement has been a smoother experience for donors, who no longer get overloaded with messages from various staff members — a problem for many nonprofits that don’t have a robust donor-communications plan.
The trust’s guidelines also enforce accountability because they make clear exactly who needs to do what things when and ensures that several people are not performing the same tasks, Mr. Connolly says. “It allows us to make sure that we’re not stepping on each others toes.”
For example, for the Bounty of the Land mailing, the plan directs that John Piotti, the trust’s president, signs the thank-you letter and Mr. Connelly compiles the mailing list. Mr. Connelly will also enter any relevant data into the group’s donor database, such as whether people made donations in response to the mailing.
Laid out in a spreadsheet, the plan includes similar instructions for the nonprofit’s other mailings. Organizing the information in a spreadsheet ensures that new and future employees will know their duties if current staff members move on, Mr. Connolly says. That’s important for nonprofits, which tend to have a lot of turnover among fundraisers.
