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Strategies for Donor Retention Using Your CRM Software
The document presents strategies for donor retention using CRM tools, highlighting the importance of meaningful connections and effective communication with donors. Key reasons donors stop giving include lack of gratitude, poor communication, and insufficient reporting on their impact. Utilizing CRMs can enhance donor engagement by collecting valuable data and creating reports that inform personalized communications and improve retention rates.
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Strategies for Donor Retention Using Your CRM Software
- 1. Strategies for Donor Retentionusing your CRM Presented by Philip Manzano Marketing + Communications, Keela Presented for TechSoup Canada June 28, 2018
- 2. Let’s focus onthe donor.
- 3. • Youth Engagement •Volunteer Development • Communications • Marketing and Communications • Education and Public Sector Portfolio • Marketing and Communications • BIAAG Canada • National Youth Engagement Strategy • CSR Specialist • Marketing and Communications for National CSR Program • Community Engagement/CSR Specialist • Marketing and Communications for youth programming My nonprofit journey
- 4. Agenda • How doI retain donors using my CRM? • Connect with Donors in a Meaningful Way • Create Reliable Reports and Ways to Share Information • Leverage your data to create helpful reports
- 5. Let’s talk aboutDonor Retention.
- 6. Number of donorsthat gave in both 2016 and 2017 Total number of donors that gave in 2016
- 7. 46% Source: Fundraising EffectivenessProject Survey, Bloomerang, 2017
- 8. 23% Source: Fundraising EffectivenessProject Survey, Bloomerang, 2017
- 9. Why do people STOPgiving? • 54% - could no longer afford it; • 18% - poor service or communication; • 16% - donor has passed away; • 13% - were never thanked for donating; • 9% - no memory of supporting the charity; • 8% - no info on how their donation was used to impact the world; • 5% - thought the charity didn’t need them anymore. Source: Why Donors Stop Giving, Network for Good, 2013
- 10. Why do people STOPgiving? • 54% - could no longer afford it; • 18% - poor communication; • 16% - donor has passed away; • 13% - poor communication; • 9% - poor communication; • 8% - poor communication; • 5% - poor communication. Source: Why Donors Stop Giving, Network for Good, 2013
- 11. Why do people STOPgiving?
- 12. What do donors actuallywant? • Prompt and personal messages of gratitude • Specific, story-based reporting on the impact the donor is making through their last gift • Repetition of impact and gratitude before next solicitation Source: ‘Donor Centred Fundraising,’ Penelope Burk, 2003
- 13. Be a nicehuman. Say thank you, care deeply, and value kindness. Be unpredictable and unforgettable. Make your donors smile, celebrate their generosity, and tell them how they made the world a better place. - Shannon Doolittle
- 14. Connecting with thedonor.
- 15. Use your CRM YourCRM is more than a contact database. It is living and breathing – and full of potential.
- 16. Use your CRM Collectvery strategic bits of information.
- 17. Use your CRM Musthaves: • Contact information • Family information • Donation Information • Workplace Information
- 18. Use your CRM Nice-to-haves: •Volunteering information • Communication preference • General interests • Sports teams • Events attended
- 19. Use your CRM Makeall fields reportable! Run this report: Donors who gave to our organization, who are interested in the Toronto Raptors.
- 20. Use your CRM Q:How does this help with donor retention? A: You build resonance with your donors – helping to create an important connection to what matters most to THEM.
- 21.
- 22. Listen to yourdonors They are telling you what they want to hear from you. You just have to know where to look. Hint: It’s in your CRM!
- 23. Listen to yourdonors Where are they volunteering? Run this report: Donors who gave to our organization, AND who have volunteered.
- 24. Listen to yourdonors Where are they giving? Run this report: Donors who gave to our organization, AND who have given to Program X.
- 25. Listen to yourdonors Q: How does this help with donor retention? A: You begin creating collateral that your donors actually want to see – making your communication with them even better.
- 26. Leverage your datawith reports.
- 27. Reports for Donor Retention Trackwhen gifts are made. When a donation is made often correlates with when giving is possible, or more palatable, for individual donors.
- 28. Reports for Donor Retention TieOffline Activity to Online Gifts Use a multi-channel approach to acknowledge ALL the ways your donor has engaged with your organization.
- 29. Reports for Donor Retention Q:How does this help with donor retention? A: When you collect data on how your donors give, you have a better idea of how to steward them – and retain them as donors.
- 30.
- 31. In Summary Donors stopgiving because of bad communication. And CRMs help you communicate more effectively • Helping you collect meaningful data points about each • Telling you what types of collateral to develop • Giving you reports that tell you more about how your
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- 34. Empowering small nonprofitsto make a BIG impact.
Editor's Notes
- #3 So, today, let’s focus on the donor. Ideally, as a development staff, you should always be doing this – donors should be at the centre of your work, your writing, your strategies. It should always be donor first. But today, I really want to go over the typical journey that a donor takes with you. And then chat a little more about how to change that journey to get a higher return, and increased impact for your organization.
- #4 There’s a theme to my career path. It’s always been heavily linked to marketing and communications. It’s always been linked to story-telling. Story telling is an important part of your nonprofit work, regardless of your organization’s size or capacity. I learned about this early on with my work at United Way. Story about United Way United Way was really the first “big” organization that I worked for. We still focused on regional issues, but it felt a bit different. Now I don’t know how you feel about United Way – but I’ll just say this, there is a ton of misunderstanding about the work we do. For a lot of people, it was a mystery – and that included being a mystery to our donors. That’s a big no-no when it comes to fundraising and story-telling. If the donor doesn’;t understand what you do, how can you begin to build a relationship with them. On day 1 or 2, an infamous message found its way into my inbox. Internally, it was always referred to as “the email”. It was basically a communication that had gained traction over the years and passed along from one chain message to another. From one social channel to another – all littered with inaccuracies. It basically stated that our CEO drove a Rolls Royce, had a private plane, and multiple mansions. So we faced a bit of an uphill battle when it came to fundraising. Not only did we have to convince people to give – We also had to clarify what we do. And we only had a few small windows to do it. So we turned to various donor retention strategies to help us.
- #6 Donor retention is the best way to increase your revenue and expand your donor base. Donor retention is: the number of your organization’s donors who gave last year and ALSO gave again this year, as a percentage. The formula is quite simple: Number of donors that gave in BOTH 2016 and 2017, DIVIDED BY the total number of donors that gave in 2016.
- #7 Donor retention is the best way to increase your revenue and expand your donor base. Donor retention is: the number of your organization’s donors who gave last year and ALSO gave again this year, as a percentage. The formula is quite simple: Number of donors that gave in BOTH 2016 and 2017, DIVIDED BY the total number of donors that gave in 2016.
- #8 In a 2017 study by Bloomerang, it was discovered that the industry average for donor retention was 46%.
- #9 And shockingly, that same study shows that new donor retention rate was 23% -- Think about ANY industry. Whether it’s a BIG bank or a small Mom and Pop shop. You would lose your job immediately if your customer retention rate was that low. And that same urgency should be in the nonprofit sector.
- #10 The survey found that… But what does this really mean?
- #11 It means that there is poor communication! And further, it means that there are lost story-telling opportunities. Donors stop giving because they don’t feel connected to the organization. Your CRM offers opportunities to retain donors, and you might not even notice it. Often donor data is screaming at you – telling you something. You just need to know how to read it.
- #12 The breakdown happens in the Stewardship phase. A lot of organizations have a hard time stewarding their donors because they’re not sure how to approach it. Stewardship is everything from reporting back on impact to sending a note to donors about something that you know they would be interested in. Stewardship is the true relationship-building stage. This is where you make your organization stand apart. Proper stewardship is the difference between knowing your donors as: John Doe who gives to the Children’s Fund, and John, who’s interested in basketball and has a young daughter that goes to afterschool programs. Obviously, you can do so much more with the latter – and truly build a personal relationship with these individuals. But HOW do you do this – especially when you are already short on time? Your donor data – and how it is stored within your CRM – can hold the answers that you need moving forward!
- #13 In Penelope’s Burk’s book, “Donor Centred Fundraising” – she breaks down the art of fundraising and looks at it mainly from the perspective of stewardship. She found that in order to boost that retention rate – donors are looking mainly for three things: Prompt and personal messages of gratitude Specific, story-based reporting on the impact the donor is making through their last gift Repetition of impact and gratitude before next solicitation
- #14 This is what it all boils down to. It’s about being human with every individual that comes across your organization. This undoubtedly gets difficult when you have thousands of these individuals to keep track of. So what I will talk about today is how CRMs ca help you facilitate and point out some of those more meaningful ways to create a true human connection. Not ways to automate your thank yous.
- #16 Whether you are using Keela, Etap or another CRM – be sure to take advantage of all that it can do for you. It can be a tool to help you retain donors – and we can make sure that you create something meaningful for them.
- #18 Contact information: Name, Birthday, Address, etc. Family information: Marital status Children (names and ages) Donations information: When and where How much How often Workplace information: Where do they work Who else are they connected to?
- #19 This is where you can be strategic and creative. Think about those human moments that you can use to surprise and delight. List them here are start using your CRM to capture that information.
- #20 For example – if there’s a big basketball event coming up - you can use your CRM to run reports on: Donors who gave to our organization, who are interested in the Toronto Raptors. Now you have a very specific list of people who would be interested in a basketball event – they would be more susceptible to listening to your message, and responding to your solicitation.
- #21 Resonance is an important thing within donor communication, and donor retention.
- #22 It’s dangerous to build stories that don’t resonate. Similarly, it’s unwise to tell stories to the wrong audiences because you didn’t know enough about them or what they like. I’m sure many of us have been part of a drip campaign before – this is basically when an organization sends you emails over a set period of time, based off an interaction you’ve had with them. Most nonprofits use MailChimp or Constant Contact with this. But you know what’s frustrating? Being placed in a drip that has nothing to do with my interaction with the organization. I donated to my university – specifically to my program. And I constantly get stewardship emails about other areas that had nothing to do with my experience there. So, this didn’t resonate with me – and even if there may be a tidbit in there that would interest me, I’ve already turned my mind off to it. So it’s a risky game to build stories without an understanding of what will really resonate with people.
- #24 Look at where your donor volunteers Volunteering takes time, energy, effort. It’s an investment. One can argue that there is a pretty high likelihood that if someone volunteers for one of your programs, they CARE a deep amount about it. Run reports on donors who have given, and who have volunteered. Create collateral based on this volunteer program to show impact, and how the needle is moving.
- #25 Look at where your donor gives (segments and buckets within your mission) In a similar way – if you have different programs or funding lines that donors can contribute to, TRACK where these individuals are giving. Run reports on donors who have given, and who have given to Program X. Create collateral specifically around this program.
- #26 Look at where your donor gives (segments and buckets within your mission) In a similar way – if you have different programs or funding lines that donors can contribute to, TRACK where these individuals are giving. Run reports on donors who have given, and who have given to Program X. Create collateral specifically around this program.
- #27 Now that you have an understanding of the bits of information you want to track – and the types of collateral that you can create; now it’s time to look at all the other reports you can pull from your CRM to help you communicate and steward your donors even better.
- #28 Track when gifts are made When a donation is made often correlates with when giving is possible, or more palatable, for individual donors. For example: If you note that a donor tends to give on the first of the month – or any set day of the month – this may correspond to paydays. If a donor just got paid, it’s psychologically easier for him or her to give, so asking for a recurring donation then will likely net you a bigger donation or recurring gift. Similarly, if a donor makes an annual gift, look to see if there is a trend in the time of year it’s made. Perhaps this correlates with the anniversary of a specific event in the donor’s life, or simply when a certificate of deposit or other investment pays out annually. In any case, timing your request appropriately will net you a much higher take, as will allowing the donor to pick the date for automatic debit donations.
- #29 Tie Offline activity to Online Gifts In many cases – a donor’s relationship with your organization may be multi-faceted. They could give online and then attend an event or volunteer for something. One of the best ways to steward an individual is to acknowledge all of these ways. Consider sending a direct mail to an individual who has attended an event as a thank you – and make sure to mention their Online contribution as well. The multichannel acknowledgement drives home the idea that the donor is personally important to the cause, and is a welcomed and valued member of the community.
- #30 How does this help with donor retention? When you collect data on how your donors give, you have a better idea of how to steward them – and retain them as donors.