It takes greater than thank-you letters to retain donors on your nonprofit long-term. To successfully steward donor relationships and encourage increased ranges of giving, you have to strategically interact donors in numerous ways in which deepen their connections to your nonprofit. However what varieties of outreach must you use, and the way do you define a cohesive technique?
The reply is a donor stewardship matrix. This detailed plan defines the actions your nonprofit will use to steward donors at totally different ranges and the way usually you’ll full every exercise. Together with your stewardship matrix as a information, your employees could have a transparent roadmap to participating donors all through their total relationship along with your nonprofit.
That can assist you develop your individual stewardship matrix, we’ll discover the instance offered in Meyer Partners’ donor stewardship guide and break down every part.
1. Donor Segments
The very first thing it is best to set up on your stewardship matrix is which donor segments you’ll embody. Each donor is totally different, so it’s pure that not everybody will wish to interact along with your nonprofit in the identical methods. Donors at every giving degree, as an illustration, have distinctive wants, pursuits, and communication expectations.
By together with a number of core donor segments in your stewardship matrix, you’ll be capable to tailor outreach to the wants of every one. For instance, think about the differing expectations of:
- New donors: First-time donors doubtless don’t know a lot about your group or how one can interact with it past donating. They’ll doubtless recognize welcome letters, informational supplies, and low-stakes methods to become involved.
- Recurring donors: Month-to-month donors have demonstrated a dedication to supporting your work, however your group might stay behind their minds. Steward recurring donors by sharing common affect updates and reminding them why they offer.
- Mid-level donors: Those that give average quantities anticipate extra personalised acknowledgment out of your nonprofit. These donors are additionally your finest prospects for upgrading to main donors, so that they usually warrant extra consideration.
- Main donors: Your nonprofit’s largest donors anticipate to be extremely concerned and up to date usually on how you employ their presents. Steward these donors with private cellphone calls, common check-ins, and invites to unique alternatives.
- Deliberate giving donors: Donors fascinated by deliberate presents wish to know extra about your group’s long-term plans and the way their donations will create a long-lasting legacy. Ship loads of personalised communications about their affect in your nonprofit’s future.
Whereas giving ranges and frequencies are good locations to start out, you don’t have to make use of these actual donor segments. You would possibly use present segments out of your fundraising database or create new ones primarily based in your distinctive donor base. For instance, an animal shelter might create totally different segments for donors who’ve adopted animals and those that give in-kind donations.
2. Acknowledgment Actions
Acknowledging presents and thanking each donor is the baseline of donor stewardship. After you have your segments ironed out, record particular methods you’ll acknowledge donations. This part of your stewardship matrix ought to define every core appreciation exercise, the tactic of communication, how quickly after a donation the communication needs to be despatched, and which donors ought to obtain it.
The instance stewardship matrix proven above consists of:
- A donation acknowledgment electronic mail, together with a tax receipt, despatched inside 24 hours to all donors.
- A private thank-you name made inside 48 hours to all main and deliberate giving donors.
- Welcome emails and letters despatched inside one week to all first-time donors.
- Further, extremely personalised thank-you letters to main and deliberate giving donors despatched inside one week.
To make sure these messages attain donors and specific your thanks successfully, incorporate a number of communication channels in your technique. You would possibly add a right away, automated thank-you textual content message for all donors, or you may ship hand-signed postcards by means of direct mail to recurring and mid-level donors.
3. Donor Recognition
Subsequent, select a number of methods to precise your appreciation by recognizing donors publicly and privately. Embrace primary donor recognition strategies like sending small presents of branded merchandise or shouting out donors on social media, then think about methods you’ll be able to take recognition additional for main and deliberate present donors.
Main donor recognition is usually extra public, personalised, and lasting than the methods you acknowledge different donors. Your stewardship matrix would possibly embody methods like highlighting donors in your publication, internet hosting a donor appreciation gala, and including main donors’ names to a bodily or digital donor wall.
Add notes about every technique’s timeline that can assist you persist with an everyday recognition cadence. You would possibly host your appreciation gala yearly, for instance, when you acknowledge donors in your publication on a quarterly foundation. Irrespective of which actions you embody in your stewardship matrix, bear in mind to verify particular person donors’ preferences and ask their permission earlier than you acknowledge them publicly.
4. Impression Reporting
Demonstrating the real-life affect of donors’ presents is necessary for incomes their belief and galvanizing future giving. In your record of stewardship actions, embody a number of methods you’ll report on donations’ affect on to supporters.
Creating an Unbelievable Annual Report for Your OrganizationAt a minimal, this part of your stewardship matrix ought to embody sending an annual report to all donors. Specify once you’ll ship out annual studies and by what means. As an example, you would possibly ship all donors an electronic mail with the PDF model of your report and solely ship a printed copy to main donors.
Past annual studies, think about including periodic marketing campaign replace emails, personalised affect studies for main donors, and/or particular person program studies. In case your nonprofit makes use of different communications to display donors’ affect, embody these in your matrix, too.
5. Ongoing Engagement and Outreach
Lastly, incorporate different ongoing actions to interact donors in the long run. These would possibly embody alternatives and communications like:
- Month-to-month supporter meet-ups the place any donor can discover neighborhood and get to know like-minded people.
- Volunteer alternatives that enable donors to interact along with your trigger in hands-on methods.
- Birthday, holiday, and anniversary playing cards that remind donors of your nonprofit and the way a lot their help means to your group.
- Workplace and behind-the-scenes excursions to provide main and deliberate giving donors an up-close take a look at your nonprofit’s work.
- Donor surveys the place any supporter can present open-ended suggestions about your communications, engagement alternatives, affect reporting, and many others.
Most of those outreach actions can apply to all donors, no matter their giving degree or section. To extend personalization and relevance, add segment-specific actions like invites to be a peer-to-peer fundraiser (for recurring and mid-level donors) or having dinner with a board member (for main donors).
Whereas together with these elements will give you a robust basis for stewardship, keep in mind that your stewardship matrix isn’t set in stone. Make changes as you discover out which actions resonate with supporters most or uncover that you’ll want to add one other donor section. Don’t overlook to maintain your group up-to-date about any modifications.