Maintain the Relationship Account

Imagine that you have an emotional bank account with each donor.

Each time you ask for money, you’re withdrawing from the account.

When you help your donor feel good about their decision to support your nonprofit or when you tell them a story that moves them, you’re making a deposit into the account.

You don’t have to be an accountant to understand that if all you do is make withdrawals, it won’t take long before you’re in the hole and the account is closed.

This is why so many donors are jaded – they’ve been asked for money too many times without warm touches, stories, and updates to keep them in the loop. They’ve been treated like ATMs instead of valued partners.

The good news here is that it’s easily fixed: make more deposits than withdrawals.

I spent the day with a client recently and we mapped out her next few months on a giant calendar so she could see everything at a glance. We put newsletters, updates, and the feel-good activities on the calendar on green stickies, and the appeals on the calendar on red stickies. We were able to easily see which activities were adding deposits to the relationship account (green) and which ones were withdrawing (red).

It became very clear very fast how important her newsletter is to her overall fundraising. Her newsletter is adding the bulk of the deposits to the relationship account. If she doesn’t get that newsletter out, her donors will probably get tired of her requests for money very quickly. And if she’s going to hit her fundraising goals this year, she can’t afford to lose any donors because they feel over-asked.

Building donor relationships is all about strategy and planning. You’ll never be able to keep enough points in the relationship account if you’re always in reactive mode and making decisions at the last minute about which activities to pursue.

How exactly can you add more deposits to the relationship account? It’s easier than you think.

Help your donor feel good about their decision to give.

• Send a prompt, warm, sincere thank-you letter that tells the donor how much you appreciate their gift and that you’ve set it to work.

• Send a juicy, donor-focused email newsletter at least once a month and include a story about a life that’s been changed by your nonprofit’s work.

• Post regularly on social media telling stories, sharing interesting facts and video.

One thing I’ve noticed about relationships is that people only stay in them while they’re getting something out of them. When we get turned off, we end the relationship.

Want to keep your donors? Make sure they’re still getting value from the relationship.

just get started

It’s really not that hard to build deep, lasting relationships with donors. All you need to do is simply commit to taking care of donors. Make them a priority and they will make supporting you a priority. Make sure your fundraising plan includes regular donor nurture and donor communication activities. Map it all out in a Donor Nurture Plan, and then execute it fully.