Latest / The Nonprofit Podcast / Ep 156| 5 Strategies to strengthen donor stewardship with Mike Esposito

Transcript

Ep 156| 5 Strategies to strengthen donor stewardship with Mike Esposito · The Nonprofit Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: The Nonprofit Podcast powered by DonorBucks.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: When was the last time that you really checked in with the donors who are already backing your mission?
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: It is so easy to get caught up and scrambling for the next new supporter, but the real magic happens when we nurture the ones who already said, I believe in you.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: We're diving into how do you make donor stewardship simple, meaningful, and effective so that you can see increased retention and all-around supporters that are wholeheartedly bought into your mission.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: You're not going to want to miss this one.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to the nonprofit podcast.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Brit Stalker, your fundraising strategist over at DonorBox.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Each week we talk about practical tips to help you raise more money, keep your donors engaged, and all around make fundraising just less daunting.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Today I'm bringing on an amazing person, Mike Esposito.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to be talking about donor stewardship and we're going to break it down.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to simplify it.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Mike, welcome to the show.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Mike is a certified fundraising executive.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: He is a kickbutt consultant based in Brooklyn.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: He's raised millions of dollars for organizations like Echoing Green, Waterkeeper Alliance.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: He's he's very active on his AFP chapter on the East Coast.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: And if you spend time on LinkedIn, he doesn't mess around.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Mike, I'm sending you so much support from the PW.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining me today.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for having me, Britt.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so excited to be here.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I love talking to fundraisers and nonprofits about donor stewardship.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: So excited to jump in.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Let's start here.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about why the heck donor stewardship matters more than ever.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, something that I'm seeing is donors are very much about alignment.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're creating lifestyles where they want their values to align with everything they're doing down to giving.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: And they want to know that their giving is making a difference.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: So just let's start here from a very high conceptual level.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's it's an aspect of fundraising that is sometimes just deprioritized, you know, whether it's the you know, the board wanting to focus on going after new donors or or some big donors like, you know, McKenzie Scott or Mike Bloomberg, the those high net worth individuals out there.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: But as we know from the donor retention crisis and declining individual donor rates over the last two decades, the the average donor retention rate for nonprofits in the US is actually around 30 to 40%.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: And that drops down to 10% for first-time donors.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: So that's really why donor stewardship and really investing time and energy into building these relationships with our donors is so important.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: We want them to, you know, get involved.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: We want them to come back year over year, and then, you know, tell their friends and family about our organizations.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's really why it's so important and why we need to prioritize it.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in your experience, what might be one to three key essentials that really make a stewardship plan stand out?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we have a lot of listeners that are just starting out.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: They're startup, they're emerging nonprofits, and this idea of like a very big plan is overwhelming.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: So can you pull out just a few themes that you think make a good plan stand out?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: One of the most important things that nonprofits can do, you know, without adding, you know, adding to the noise too much, is to better understand, you know, how their donors really want to be communicated with.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I found from working with dozens of nonprofits across the country that donors from different generations uh prefer to engage in different ways.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, Gen Z donors and millennial donors, they may prefer to receive communication through a text message or social media direct messages.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: Whereas older generations, baby boomers, silent generation, they may want to be communicated with through emails, phone calls, or even direct mail.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're not tracking this, I think you really should start now.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: And how to do that, you know, you can ask your donors on phone calls or in meetings, you can include it in surveys, you can even make it part of your welcome process when someone donates for the first time.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I think the more personalized your outreach is, the more meaningful it will feel for the donor and the more likely they will be to engage more with your work.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: What I'm hearing from this, no matter how you're reaching out to different donor segments, that you're making it accessible to how people want to connect.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's talk about segmentation.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: This is such a buzzword that just gets uh tossed around.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: How does segmentation come to play when a nonprofit is creating a stewardship plan?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that is a really great question.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: I think um, I think sometimes when nonprofits think of segmentation, it seems like kind of an overwhelming word and like it's complicated, but it really doesn't have to be.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, even if you're an organization that doesn't have a CRM, you can still personalize engagement and outreach in meaningful ways.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and if you do have a CRM, I would start by segmenting by engagement level.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: So thinking about the different types of donors.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, you think about your first-time donors, you want to make sure that they have a nice welcome message and maybe incorporate some storytelling and maybe ask, you know, why did they give to your organization for organization for the first time?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: And kind of going back to the communication preferences, too, a good opportunity there to ask them about that.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, then you also have your recurring or recurring monthly or quarterly donors.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think it's good to include impact updates, letting them know, you know, how is their gift making a difference for your organization?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: Some other other donors, major donors, the designation amount for a major donor varies by organization to organization, but these are typically donors who maybe have given more than$1,000 or maybe might be$5,000 for a larger organization, really making sure they have those personalized touch points.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: So there's calls, um, event invites, maybe sharing some exclusive updates with them.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: And then lastly, um laughs donors.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: You want to make sure you're emphasizing language that you know talks about their past impact and how their past donations to your organization have made a difference so that you can recover them as a donor and kind of bring them back in the loop about what you're doing, about uh what's going on at your organization.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then, you know, if you don't have that CRM, I think using like an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheet works really well.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, just make sure that you're tracking at a minimum, you know, the donor's full name, um, the tracking the last time that they made a gift and the amount and then how they engaged with your organization.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: So did they come through an event, did they volunteer, or did they come in through an online appeal?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: I think those are all really important things to know so that you can ensure that you're not giving you know the same message to your first-time$10 donor to someone who's been donating, say,$25,000 a year for the last five or 10 years.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm hearing all of this, um, really being intentional and meticulous about documenting all of those colorful details and every interaction.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I know, and I'm not sure if you're witnessing this as well with the shift, is we're seeing donors who are doing one of two things where they're either narrowing their giving, um, where they're choosing just a few organizations and then they're going all in, or they're doing the complete opposite, where they're donating micro gifts to a larger spread of nonprofits.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think something to extract here is we need to instead of like going after the next new donor, we really need to focus on our existing donors and to your point, get highly personalized in our interactions with them.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so documenting all of those details in terms of their giving history, um, the frequency.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: And one thing I would add here too is getting clear on the psychographics.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: The psychographics are what motivates a donor to give?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: What do they value?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: All of the nitty-gritty details in terms of how do they show up when you interact with them?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Anything about their temperament, but add as many colorful details you can you can um bring um after the interaction you're having.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: So nonprofits, you're like, I know I I know what I need to do, but give me something that I can start with this week.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: What might be one thing that a nonprofit fundraiser could could start today?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love this question because I'm like all about actionable takeaways.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: So um here's a a 30-minute challenge for anyone that's that's listening.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so find, I would say three to five donors who have given to your organization in the last three months.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: So think, you know, maybe someone who gave in December around your end of year appeal if you had an appeal.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and just send them a personalized, whether it's a handwritten note or a thank you video, an email, a phone call, whatever it is, um, just make sure there's no ask involved.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: There's no agenda.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: You're just saying, you know, hey, Britt, I just wanted to say thank you for your gift.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: I, you know, your generosity is making a huge difference at our organization.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe speak to um a programmatic win or a recent hire that you've made.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and if that feels like too much, you can maybe ask a board member or a volunteer to help you out.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there are a lot of great skills, uh skills-based volunteers at um organizations like Catch a Fire and Taproot Foundation who um can help nonprofits.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: And then um, you know, if you're thinking like, how am I going to fit this into my busy schedule?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: I have all these meetings, I have so much going on.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, consider using um generative AI tools like ChatGBT, Claude, or Gemini, um, which can help you um, you know, getting a first draft of a letter out or getting a first draft of a call script.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then just lastly, just keep in mind that you don't have to completely overhaul everything overnight.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, just start with a few small intentional changes and you know, the these touch points will, you'll, you'll see a difference.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: And you may start to hear that some of these donors that you're interacting with are, you know, they're telling their friends, they're telling their family, like, hey, this organization is doing great work.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: They're even reaching out to me just to check in and provide updates.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna be doing so much more than a lot of other organizations out there because, like we mentioned, a lot of organizations are are chasing that next new big donor instead of focusing on the ones that have supported you over the years.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: And and and would you say that stewardship falls on one person?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: I know we've been talking about a lot of the onus is on the fundraiser, but as you and I know, it's really about creating a culture of stewardship.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: So what does that look like?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Is this kind of a team effort, Mike?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: What's your take on it?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I definitely think it's a team effort.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: I think that um it can be hard to get other team members involved with um stewardship.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: But I think that if you're very intentional about getting um, you know, maybe your programmatic team members or maybe your your operations or your finance folks involved, it can be definitely doable.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think getting the board involved is great, getting volunteers involved.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: It a lot of the time it does fall on the development team or the fundraiser.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but it takes a plan.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, it's it starts with the small things.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: I remember when I was at a nonprofit, I particularly around the times when there were a lot of gifts coming in at one time.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: I asked a bunch of team members that I was close with that were on other teams, the comms team, the programs team, and you know, executive assistant, everybody kind of get into the boardroom and get some lunch catered if you can.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: And then that that can get people motivated and help you out for a couple hours to, you know, maybe it's putting putting stamps on letters, signing, signing, um, signing letters or making phone calls, but make it a group effort, make it fun.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I think people will get involved.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: And and also as part of this plan, I from what I'm hearing, you know, there's there's people out in the community.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: It might be a case manager or or a program coordinator, and then you have your board making phone calls, but baking in as part of your stewardship plan, some sort of communication process where all of those details from whatever each group is doing flows into your Excel spreadsheet or your CR CRM, right?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Because all of those colorful details need to be in the donor's record so that you know how to connect with them going forward.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: For those of you listening, don't feel overwhelmed, don't fret.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: We're Mike and I, we're gonna throw in some great resources in the podcast show notes.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: So if you don't have a stewardship plan in place, don't worry.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: But yes, if you do have a stewardship plan in place and you haven't taken a look at it for months, take 30 minutes this week, revisit it.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Mike, anything else you want to add to the convo today about stewardship?
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: Just the last thing I would add is to think about when you think about stewardship, think about how you would want to, you would want a nonprofit to interact with you if you made a gift that was really meaningful to you, you know, whether it was say a$5 gift or you know, a larger gift that might be considered a major gift for an organization, how would you um want, you know, how quickly would you want to receive, say, an acknowledgement letter or a phone call or like how would you like to be treated?
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: I think about that a lot when I talk to uh clients that I work with because um you ensure that people feel valued and engaged and involved when they're making uh a contribution that is um, you know, sometimes sometimes it can be a sacrifice, you know, they're not they're they're sacrificing maybe a coffee or maybe lunch or you know, something um that they um would spend on themselves.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: So just I would just keep that in mind.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it kind of helps you to reframe the the act of uh stewardship.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: If people want to keep the conversation going apart from LinkedIn and your website, are those the two best places to find you?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'd say I'd say those are the two the two main places, yeah.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thanks for joining me, Mike.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: I hope to see you over on the East Coast or at AFP icon over here in Seattle.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: It was great connecting with you today.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thanks so much, Brett.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you for joining us on today's nonprofit podcast.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: I hope that you've left with the confidence today to take a small step tomorrow.
• 15:52
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• 16:05
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