In this week’s edition of “Ask an Expert,” we answer reader questions about setting goals for major gift officers and the balance of prioritizing donor acquisition and retention during the pandemic.
Anthony Villescas, senior director of prospect development at the University of California at San Francisco, and fundraising consultant Barbara O’Reilly provide the answers.
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What are you trying to figure out in the midst of the pandemic? We’re here to help you navigate this challenging new landscape with a new advice column.
In the case of smaller development operations (fewer than 10 full-time employees across all development functions), what are your recommendations around donor acquisition and potential new donor engagement efforts during this time? Should it be a focus or priority, or would you suggest development shops double down and focus exclusively on retaining current donors?
— Vice president for development at a women’s foundation
It’s not an either/or scenario, O’Reilly says. You want to balance increasing donor retention while also keeping an eye to the future by continuing to add new supporters to your donor pool.
“We know that the best [return on investment] for nonprofits is keeping as many of the supporters who already know you and are giving to you,” she says. Make sure you have a strong plan in place to regularly steward and report back to your current donors about how their contributions are making a difference. If they feel satisfied that their gifts are having an impact, they’ll be more likely to give again.
Make personal phone calls and send emails (ideally in addition to print mailings), and if staff bandwidth is limited, prioritize which segments of your current donors receive calls and ask your board and staff to help.
Because just 20 percent of first-time donors give again, on average, O’Reilly says it is important to stay connected with them. She recommends creating a 60-day plan that welcomes new donors to your organization, tells them more about the organization by email or video chat, asks about their interests and why they chose your organization to support, and invites them to learn more.
Consider looking at donors who have stopped giving over the past two years and try to reconnect and inspire them to give again.
For current donors, your focus should be on revenue growth as well as persuading them to give again and again. Where possible, ask your donors to increase the size of their contributions and suggest options such as monthly giving or donating assets such as stocks that have risen in value over the years, even amid market declines. Stock gifts are especially valuable to donors because they can avoid capital-gains taxes by transferring them directly to charity. “These donors already believe in you and will consider an increase if you ask,” says O’Reilly.
The reason to think now about recruiting new donors, she adds, is that it will pay off in the future.
If you are able to work with a vendor to mail an appeal to a carefully curated list of donors who give to causes like yours, it is worth investing in an acquisition plan in that way. But this takes time and patience, and you won’t likely recoup your costs after just one mailing. Another option is to brainstorm with your board and volunteers, asking them for names of people they know who share their commitment to your mission. That last qualifier is important, O’Reilly says. “The people they suggest who align with your work are the ones more likely to become sustaining donors over time versus those who make a gift because their friend or colleague asked.”
Villescas says your organization’s focus should be guided by what your database tells you, in addition to the experience fundraisers have working with donors. When you’re thinking about building a pool of supporters, he says, “focusing on the unique attributes your current donors share will help you identify new prospects.”
How would you advise organizations to set goals for major-gift officers for the next fiscal year?
— Development director for an academic center at the University of Mississippi
Since our ability to travel and interact will likely be severely hindered for the rest of 2020 and even into 2021, this is the time to revisit how best to measure fundraiser performance — especially for major gifts, O’Reilly says. Some organizations have already shifted their goals and how they measure them.
A new study from the fundraising consulting firm Marts & Lundy found that 85 percent of universities and colleges, private schools, and health-care institutions have developed new evaluation measures for fundraisers who work with wealthy donors because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Some institutions have noted that big donors are participating more in virtual meetings or gatherings, such as videoconferences with fundraisers, virtual galas, and other types of online gatherings.
As a result, fundraisers are now monitoring the number of viewers or participants in a virtual event, the duration of their participation, and so forth, the study found. What’s more, most organizations say they are decreasing expectations for how much fundraisers can pull in.
“Now more than ever it’s about tracking meaningful engagements and not transactional face-to-face meetings or calls,” O’Reilly says. Think about the ways you can bring current and potential donors closer to the organization. Assuming no in-person contact is allowed, O’Reilly suggests efforts like video tours of museum or other institution, video chats with beneficiaries or a nonprofit’s leadership, personal update reports in print or by email on how the donor helped the organization, or online events that gather small numbers of donors to talk about the organization’s work.
Look at the major donors fundraisers are working with to ensure that you have a good sense of each one’s level of interest and capacity as well as when they might be in a position to make new gifts. “Track activities, touchpoints, and engagement opportunities that celebrate and bring the donor or potential donor closer to the organization, rather than metrics that only measure volume of interaction,” says O’Reilly.
Villescas says one-size-fits-all approaches don’t work on setting goals. He suggests using your organization’s data to evaluate your pool of donors and prospects to help set those goals for the upcoming year.
If your data tells you that you have a large pool of new prospects, set goals to determine whether the donor is interested in a deeper level of connection and support with the organization and to continue to build a relationship.
And, he says, if your data tells you that you have a large pool of prospects that are closer to being ready to make a gift, focus on thanking them and describing the impact of their past gifts, asking for subsequent gifts, and continuing to update donors and thank them for their support. In most cases, he says, both approaches will be wise.
Maria Di Mento contributed to reporting.
