Latest / The Nonprofit Podcast / Ep 145| Top 5 Tactics to Retain New Year-end Donors

Transcript

Ep 145| Top 5 Tactics to Retain New Year-end Donors · The Nonprofit Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: The Nonprofit Podcast, powered by DonorBox.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_03: Ever wonder why those amazing year-end first-time donors suddenly go quiet by February?
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Brit Stalkert, fundraising strategist at DonorBox.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_03: We are here each week with practical actions that you could use today to increase donations and take your nonprofit to the next level tomorrow.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_03: Today's episode is for all of you fundraisers out there who celebrated that December surge of generosity.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_03: As fundraisers, I'm thinking of all of you.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: You poured your heart into those year-end campaigns, you've crafted every message with care.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: And then boom, February hits.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: Crickets, silence, all of those incredible first-time donors seem to disappear into the ether.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_03: What happened?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: I am so excited to be joined by my friend Katherine Lacefield.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: She is the founder of Just Because Consulting.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_03: She's a fundraising expert with over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit world, whether it's been in direct service roles, leading major fundraising campaigns, and even coordinating the lab, Canada's leading grant-making research lab.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_03: I will tell you, she knows what works, what doesn't when it comes to donor retention.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I have to start with this, Catherine.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_03: I still remember the day I was perusing LinkedIn and I stumbled upon your post where you matched fundraising strategy to super cute rescue dog breeds.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_03: And I thought, oh my goodness, who is this brilliant human?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: How the heck do I get to know her?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_03: She is my type of people.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_03: So, Catherine, I am so honored to have you on the show.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: I love that post.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: My marketing uh person and I, we had such a blast coming up about that.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: But like I have to admit, the art was all her.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: She was brilliant.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: The idea was amazing.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, no, and that that post exploded.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: Well, kudos, kudos to your assistant.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_03: More of those posts that really just, really just hit hard.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_03: So let's get this started.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, let's do it.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_03: Let's think about, yeah, let's do it.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_03: Let's talk about a hard truth of what you and I know about donor retention, right?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_03: And it's that about 80% of first-time donors, they don't come back the following year, right?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_03: And we also know that it costs five times more to acquire a new donor than to retain one, right?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_03: And so throwing this out here, why are the first 30 days after year and giving, why do you think it's so important for retention?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, like you said, most of them will not come back.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: I always make the comparison of imagining if you're in the dating scene and you go on this amazing first date, you have a great experience, and then the other person just doesn't reach out for weeks, months.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Do you ever think you're gonna go on another date with that person?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Even if it's just a quick text of, I had a great night, I'm really excited to see you again.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine that from a donor perspective.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, in those first 30 days, donors are not consciously waiting for your email, but subconsciously they're waiting to see what your next move is gonna be.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: So, in the first 30 days, you're kind of in that testing period to see if they're gonna continue a relationship with you or end it right there.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, this is when you should try to make it so that people will remember their donation experience with you or not.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is where most donations are happening.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're not the only one that they donated to.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So you want to stand out compared to everyone else that they might have donated to at the year end and make them feel important and that that relationship is worth exploring further.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that makes so much sense.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: It has been a while, but it reminds me I was leading one of three regional diaper banks in Seattle and likening Startup Nonprofit, we got this huge increase of new donors, right?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, at year-end giving during December.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I think what set us apart was we were one of the few direct service outreach teams where we were delivering diapers to families that were unhoused, living in their cars.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: We were all about cutting through red tape.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: We delivered directly within 72 hours.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I and I look back, and one thing that we didn't have, we didn't have this massive budget to send out direct mailers.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_03: But I will tell you within those 30 days, we sent personalized handwritten thank you cards, not rocket science, right?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: And we tied the donor-specific donation amount to a specific impact of a family that they were serving.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: Without naming the family, we said, hey, you know, your gift provided a month's worth of diapers to a working family living in their car off of Aurora.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: It's not rocket science.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm I'm thinking back, if if we hadn't sent those handwritten thank you cards and though in those first 30 days, it wouldn't have built that trust that we needed.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_03: And honestly, most of our recurring donors, we grew from like 70 to 7, 7 to 72.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: I swear to goodness, it was tied to those handwritten cards that we sent in those 30 days.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_03: So all to say it's about timing, I think, and showing the those year-end donors that you're paying attention.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And what I'll share a little holiday handwritten card story just so that we can really nail it in that like handwritten cards are really a great way of building relationships with your donors.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: At the Montreal SBCA, this was not, I was not a fundraiser then.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: I did an audit of one of their fundraising campaigns when I heard this story where they were doing a campaign in February.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: So they had just done their holiday and they were hoping to kind of regain some donors for a February campaign to build a sterilization clinic for cats.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was a big campaign, it was about 250k.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: They did their mailing and it was a flop, a total flop.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: They did not reach their objectives.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: However, they got one check in the mail for$250,000.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: So one donor donated the entirety of the campaign.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And when asked why, this woman, who was at the other end of the country, wasn't even local.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: She had been donating$500 yearly.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: And for her, what made the difference is that every year, without a pause, the organization would write a handwritten thank you card to her, thanking her for her gift.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, the fact that this organization is taking the time and energy to pay attention to those little details is an organization that I can trust to build this big project of a sterilization clinic to help cats in the Montreal area.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: So if that doesn't prove the usefulness and importance of handwritten cards, I don't know what does.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And there are services now that can help you.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: I know it doesn't sound as charming of imagining your volunteers in a circle handwriting them around, but like there are services that you can write out a message and they will write it with a machine, but it looks handwritten.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that way it's just that personal attention to detail that it makes people feel like this was important to them.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you're low on staff, if you're low on capacity, there are options out there to help you still send out physical mail to all of your people.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: And it, you know, this idea of personalization, it doesn't have to be complicated.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_03: Something that I think um can really support personalization.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, I work in a nonprofit tech company, is the power of donation management systems and CRMs.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_03: You know, Catherine, you and I coach a lot on this, but for the listeners out there, look to your donation forms.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_03: What type of donation form features are not just gonna give donors the flexibility to support how they want to, but how are you gonna capture the level of insights, all of the personal little things?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: How are you gonna capture that so that you can follow back and be as specific as possible?
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: So again, just when we're thinking about personalization, look to your donation forms.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_03: I know at DonorBox we have something called designations.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_03: A donor, when they're making a donation, they can specify which type of program their donation goes to.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_03: And that's gonna give the fundraiser on the back and write that level of detail to tie a specific impact to a specific program when it comes time to do the follow-ups.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: CRM should be your the mother load of information that you use to do your personalization.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'll use another animal example since we're we were talking about animals, but when I was working at an animal rights organization, whenever we would, we were those annoying people on the streets being like, hi, you want to learn about animal rights?
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: That was me five years.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: And when I would have these conversations with our donors, we would always have a little section for the name of your pet, and like we would have a description.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine sending a thank you card and saying, PS, send Oreo all of our love?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Just like any pet owners out there will know like that little attention to detail will make people really feel like that you paid attention to who they are as people.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember when I was doing phone fundraising and asking, hey, how's how's Tango doing?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, people light up talking about their pets.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: People will light up talking about them with their lives because they are people at the end of the day.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: They have their own stories.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: And this brings me to another thing that can be helpful to do, which allows for personalization in a way that you might have not thought of before.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of just thanking them, you can also ask for people to share their stories with you.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And this is something that I've integrated even in as a business owner into my exploration calls, where instead of just saying, How did I do?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: I always ask, like, what was most helpful for you?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: And as a donor, asking, why did you choose to donate to us this year?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: What made you interested in organization?
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: What aspect of our mission inspires you most?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you can have it either as a simple reply to, which is great to boost your email deliverability, or you can have a Google form, or there's platforms that exist like Memory Fox and Proofpack that allow you to automatically collect both written stories and video stories.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that is a great and unique way of collecting information from your donors that builds a relationship with them and makes you stand out.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because I don't know many organizations that do that.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: I can just imagine the amazing stories that you'll be able to collect to then reply to them and say that was an amazing story, but also from a content perspective of sharing those stories publicly with consent so that you can also inspire the next generation of donors to give back.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_03: Because relationship building, like you're saying, Catherine, most nonprofits communication, it's it's very much one way.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_03: And that's not really treating donors, that's not giving them autonomy or ownership in this partnership journey.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_03: And so I love that idea right there.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I want to pivot a little bit.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_03: Let's talk about the reality for many of our listeners.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_03: Some of them are one-person shows, right?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: They don't have a development team, but then you also have larger nonprofits, larger budgets, but they still have less than a few fundraisers.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: We also know two weeks off of PTO or vacation time during the holidays, that is not enough recovery time for folks who've done just a year's hard work worth of fundraising.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_03: So what's you've you've thrown out some great recommendations here for donor retention.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_03: Come February, what is one simple stress-free action they can take in those first 30 days?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: So many.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Choose only one.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: One thing that I would recommend, I'm gonna say two, I have to, but one thing is you can actually plan before.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: So you're not rushing in the 30 days, even like in your automatic thank you screen of when you make your donation, having those automations set up so that as soon as they donate on their thank you screen or in their automatic email, you're asking that question about their story.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because that way you're allowing them to reply to you.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that way you can actually in like get involved with those who will reply to those stories.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you already have a list of people that are your top priorities to build that relationship with.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: So having it built in automatically into your donation acquisition strategy so that you will they will get those story collections or they will get that reply to email right away, that's hardly an extra step for you.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because you already have to write out the thank you email.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Why not ask them then?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: If when we're getting to the time where you just came back from your vacation, I highly recommend segmenting your list to focus on the donors.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you only have a limited amount of time, segment your donors to the ones that are the most valuable.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not just saying from a financial perspective, but in this case, if it's new donors, that's one of the only things you're gonna have to look at.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Who are your top 10% of the donors in your list?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Look at those, send them personalized emails, literally one at a time, signed by you from your email.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Send a couple every week.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Just start somewhere because those things are gonna be helpful.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't even feel comfortable, if you have their phone number, why not give them a ring?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Call them.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: If they don't answer, leave a message just saying, hey, I hope you had a nice holiday season.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to say thank you so much.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Have a little 20-second spiel and hang up.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: If they call back, great.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: If not, move on.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: That would be my recommendations for anyone that's really low on capacity and time.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_03: So many actionable things.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_03: I know it's so hard to nail it down to one.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_03: So, one final question for you.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I want to flip the script a little bit.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_03: Looking back at all of your fundraising experience when it comes to donor retention, okay?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's February, you're ready to tackle your segment of first-time donors.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_03: Is there any type of common mistake when someone's ready to do that type of outreach and relationship building that you've seen happen in your nonprofit work that fundraisers should be mindful of?
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: They try to be perfect.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Perfection is not authentic.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: So trying to make your email sound just right is gonna take you so much more energy than just sending an authentic, real email of how you felt in that moment.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Don't overthink it too much and just authentically share something with them.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you happen to notice something like where they're living and say, hey, like we're basically neighbors, or I know that area, I grew up in that area.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like things like that that are authentic can really make a big difference in making someone feel seen.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: But like I said, don't spend weeks perfecting your email.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to be sent.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that is one thing that I found is that they constantly wait for their strategies to be perfect when that's not really what's important.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my goodness.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I I can see that it's like, and that and that's a great superpower to have that level of introspection and to be very aware that we can cause harm as fundraisers, but at the same time, the overthinking and the fear of risk, it it gives us paralysis where we do nothing.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_03: And as fundraisers, doing nothing is counterproductive to the work that we need to do.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_03: We need to raise awareness.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_03: We need to compel donors to take action.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_03: So I love that, Catherine.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I think if there's any message that we can take from the chat we had today, it's that fundraisers, listeners tuning in, don't wait.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_03: Start building those donor relationships as soon as you come back to work.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's not about perfection.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I think, you know, we have some really tangible actions that you can take that are really beneficial.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_03: Before we wrap up, I want to remind our listeners, none of this has to be overwhelming.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_03: Catherine, where can people find you?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_03: I know on your website you have some fabulous resources on donor retention.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_03: Is there anywhere else listeners uh should be following you?
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Is I am the queen of LinkedIn in the sense of I it's my favorite social media platform.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: I share a lot of actionable uh tips and advice directly through my publications on LinkedIn, if not my podcast, the Just Because Podcast as well.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but if you want to look me up, Catherine Lacefield on LinkedIn, it'd be my pleasure to answer your questions and just follow what I do.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be able to also gain some insights there.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: Love it.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_03: And one personal question, Catherine.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_03: Are you planning to do any more volunteering work at any of the animal rescue shelters in your area?
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I've been volunteering at the local animal shelter where I ended up saving my current foster failure, Mr.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Pickles.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they have over 200 dogs in a shelter with four employees.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so washing the dogs every Saturday has become my weekly treat where I get to go bathe some puppies and give them nice walks with the other volunteers.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: So hoping to continue that in the new year as well as obviously helping them with their fundraising because everyone needs help with fundraising.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone needs help with fundraising.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_03: Well, so grateful to have met you first on LinkedIn through our rescue pups.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: Look forward to connecting after the new year.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: And Catherine, thank you so much.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_03: Have a great restful holiday season.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_03: Same to you.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's a wrap for this episode and for the year.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_03: But hey, Jenna is here to help me send us off properly.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, Britt.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_02: I couldn't resist sneaking in for this one.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: It has been such an incredible year, and we just want to say thank you to our listeners, our guests, and everyone out there working hard to make a difference.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: We are so grateful for you.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_03: You've inspired all of us every step of the way, and we just can't wait to keep learning and growing together in the new year.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: We're taking a short break, but we'll be back on January 17th, and we look forward to sharing a new year and new learnings with all of you.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_03: Until then, we are wishing you and yours happy holidays from all of us at the Nonprofit Podcast.
• 18:28
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• 18:33
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• 18:39
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• 18:42
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• 18:43
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