Janet L. Hedrick is a senior associate at the fundraising consulting firm of Bentz Whaley Flessner. Her areas of expertise include planning implementation, and evaluation of annual, capital, and planned giving programs; assessment and enhancement of donor relations and stewardship programs; and training and motivating campaign volunteers and development staff.

Effective Donor Relations

By Janet L. Hedrick

John Wiley & Sons

Copyright © 2009 Janet L. Hedrick
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-470-04036-2

Chapter One

Donor Relations: What? After reading this chapter, you will be able to:

Define the terms associated with donor relations.

Explain the difference between stewardship and donor relations.

Describe the three components of donor relations.

Define gratitude.

Explain what donor centered means.

Understand the principles of the Donor Bill of Rights.

Defining Donor Relations

In the 1980s, the term donor relations was not frequently used in the field of development. In the latter years of the 1990s, the term began to be heard more frequently, and in the first decade of the twenty-first century it became the name used to describe a group of activities central to the overall development process. Organizations began adding donor relations to their development or advancement functions and a new emphasis was put on this aspect of fundraising.

The new level of interest and attention for donor relations paralleled a change in attitude about those activities that would come to be known as donor relations. Prior to the 1980s, most organizations viewed these activities as necessary but seldom approached them as basic elements of the overall development program.

In 1991, James M. Greenfield, in Fund-Raising: Evaluating and Managing the Fund Development Process (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.), noted:

In their quest to acquire an increased number of new contributors each year, charitable organizations might overlook their current donors, who are supporting them faithfully. Donors are the best prospects for repeat gifts as well as for new gifts, larger gifts, and estate gifts. Donor relations is perhaps the greatest sin of omission within fund development programs.

As organizations began to recognize the true value of maintaining and upgrading a donor’s support, the roles of acknowledgment, recognition, and stewardship shifted from being rote activities to being strategic actions. The field of donor relations became the responsibility of the professional staff and the principles of donor relations were integrated into the many aspects of the development and institutional advancement programs at charitable organizations.

Rules of the Road

Location is to real estate as relationship is to philanthropy.

The scope of donor relations and the level of sophistication are different for every organization. For some organizations, the term means sending thank-you letters for contributions. For others, donor relations includes recognizing donors with a list of names on a wall or in a report, and some organizations include sending stewardship reports in their donor relations program. For many, donor relations involves events to express appreciation to those who have supported the organization.

In simple terms, donor relations is everything that happens between asking for contributions. The many activities previously mentioned, including thank-you letters, recognition lists on a wall or in a report, sending stewardship reports, and special events, are included in donor relations. In fact, all of the activities, or the personal touches, that are involved in building a relationship with an individual, corporation, foundation, association, or any other source of funding can be described as donor relations. While donor relations can be defined as activities in a process, a donor relations program is most successful when it is the expression of an organization’s overall commitment to a donor-centered approach to fundraising.

The Power of Words

The AFP Fundraising Dictionary does not define donor relations. However, the dictionary definition of stewardship is broad and could be a definition of donor relations.

The AFP Fundraising Dictionary defines stewardship as:

stewardship, noun 1 a process whereby an organization seeks to be worthy of continued philanthropic support, including the acknowledgment of gifts, donor recognition, the honoring of donor intent, prudent investment of gifts, and the effective and efficient use of funds to further the mission of the organization. 2 the position or work of a steward.

Many people use the terms stewardship and donor relations interchangeably. However, donor relations can be viewed as having three components, with stewardship being one of the three. The term donor relations has come to mean the acknowledgment, recognition, and stewardship provided to the person, organization, corporation, or foundation that makes a charitable gift.

Rules of the Road

Donor relations: Everything that happens between “asks.”

Donor relations, as the name implies, is a set of strategies that helps an organization build its relationship with the persons who contribute to that organization. All three aspects of donor relations are important in renewing a donor’s support, upgrading a donor’s support, and building a donor’s confidence in an organization. Acknowledgment, recognition, and stewardship are important in cultivating a donor’s interest in an organization and in moving the donor to a deeper sense of commitment and greater financial investment in the organization.

Each aspect of donor relations has specific characteristics, and by examining each component of the process, the importance of each aspect becomes clearer.

Acknowledgment is the process of saying “thank you” for the gift. The acknowledgment of a gift may include a receipt, a letter, a phone call, a handwritten note, an email message, or a combination of these communications. Acknowledgment is one or more private communications between the organization receiving the contribution and the person, organization, corporation, or foundation that made the gift.

Recognition is the process of expressing gratitude for a charitable contribution in a public way. The organization may recognize the donor by listing the donor’s name in a publication, in a display of names in a program or on a wall, in a press release, or in special presentations. Providing a gift that acknowledges the donor’s support that the donor may display in the home or office is also a way to recognize a donor.

Stewardship is the process of using the gift as the donor intended and communicating with the donor about the use of the gift. The organization is being accountable and is letting the donor know that the organization used the gift as the donor desired. Included in stewardship of some gifts, especially those for endowment, is reporting on the investment of those gifts. Stewardship also conveys the impact of the gift in fulfilling the mission of the organization. The definition of stewardship in the AFP Fundraising Dictionary includes “the honoring of donor intent, prudent investment of gifts, and the effective and efficient use of funds to further the mission of the organization,” but does not mention reporting back to the donor, which is critical to meaningful stewardship.

Another approach to the donor relations program is a cycle with four active parts, or the four A‘s:

1. Acknowledge

2. Appreciate

3. Account

4. Ask again

The four-part cycle (see Exhibit 1.1) parallels the approach of the three components. “Acknowledge” is the step of thanking the donor for making the gift. “Appreciate” is the recognition component and “account” is the stewardship aspect where the donor is informed about the use of the gifts and the results or outcomes from the gift. “Ask again” is not included in the earlier description of donor relations, but is the next step in both processes that moves the process back to the solicitation of the donor.

In either scenario, the components of donor relations are not independent and separate from one another. They are interconnected and should flow from one to another. All three components are expressions of gratitude (see Exhibit 1.2). Donor relations is more than the sum of its parts. Acknowledgment, recognition, and stewardship should complement one another and together should create a meaningful and unified strategy for a donor.

Two central activities are critical to effective donor relations. The first is communications and the second is involvement or engagement. Communication, whether by mail, phone, Internet, or face-to-face, contributes to building the relationship with the donor. Meaningful communication is two-way and provides the donor with opportunities to provide input, ask questions, make recommendations, and express concerns. As the relationship grows, communication becomes more frequent and is more likely face-to-face.

The second activity central to donor relations parallels communicating with donors. The strategies in a donor relations program are designed to bring the donor closer to the organization. Building a relationship requires involvement in the life of the organization, getting to know the people that lead the organization, including staff and key volunteers, and feeling like a member of the family. The donor who has a close relationship will talk about the organization using the term we rather than you.

An effective donor relations program will seek to communicate with donors and will focus on strategies that involve and engage the donor in the life of the organization.

Rules of the Road

Donor relations > Stewardship

The Meaning of Gratitude

Gratitude is a positive emotion or attitude that an organization needs to convey to the people who choose to support that organization and its mission. Acknowledgment, recognition, and stewardship are the actions that an organization uses to express the feeling of gratitude. The way that organizations communicate and involve donors in the life of the nonprofit is the means by which an organization lets a donor experience the feeling of being appreciated by the organization. Sincere gratitude expressed in various ways over time is the key to building the relationships that result in commitment and in investment for an organization.

The donor relations program goes beyond acknowledgment, recognition, and stewardship in that these actions alone will not build the relationship. The feeling or attitude of gratitude behind those actions and the meaningful, thoughtful, and individualized nature of the actions will make the difference in creating the bond that is desired between the organization and the donor.

Donor-Centered Fundraising

The term donor-centered fundraising is used frequently in development and is a principle that development departments endorse. One often sees the “Donor Bill of Rights” hanging on the wall in the development or institutional relations office, on the website, and in the donor relations manual. Making the Donor Bill of Rights a living document takes commitment and work. The concept behind the Donor Bill of Rights is critical to understanding what donor centered means. The responsibility for fundraising includes respect for those who make philanthropic gifts, honesty in dealing with those who support the causes in which they believe, and fulfilling the donor’s desire to make a difference and to feel good about giving. In simple terms, the donor and the donor’s interests are the key elements of fundraising and the relationships that the development staff forges between donors and others in the organization are the essence of fundraising.

Those in development need to remember that their jobs are about the donor. “The donor comes first” and “The donor is always right” are two adages that seem appropriate for every development office or department. When questions arise and decisions are made, the donor’s interest should be the most important consideration.

If a donor wants to make a gift to support a specific program that is not available at the organization that the donor approaches, donor-centered thinking can help guide the organization. If the program is included in the organization’s strategic plan and the timing of the gift will fit with other funding to make the program happen, the organization may decide to accept the gift and will explain how the gift can be helpful. However, if the donor wants to support a specific program that the organization does not have and has no plans to introduce, the response should be different. For example, a donor wants to make a gift to a children’s hospital for research in SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), or alumni want to support their college’s equestrian program. If the children’s hospital does not currently have research in SIDS and the college has discontinued its equestrian program, those organizations should not accept the gifts.

Being donor centered means being honest with donors in explaining that the organization cannot fulfill their expectations and assisting the donors in finding an organization that can meet their wishes. The children’s hospital identifies where research in SIDS is occurring, and the college finds out where equestrian programs are offered and assists the donors in making gifts to support the programs in which they have interest. If an organization cannot fulfill the intent of the gift, the donor is not pleased when an organization accepts the gift and uses it in another way.

The story is told that a salesperson in Nordstrom’s, which is known for extraordinary customer service, helped a customer by gift wrapping an item that the customer bought at Macy’s. The same principle applies here. Helping donors or customers accomplish their goals is the way to put the donor or the customer first.

Another example of donor-centered fundraising is the year-end appeal. Organizations that have a fiscal year that ends on June 30 often send letters to donors in May asking for support by the “end of the year” so the organization can meet its annual goal. While that strategy may work because donors care about organizations meeting their goals, a more donor-centered approach is to ask donors to consider making gifts in the autumn months before the end of the donor’s year.

The donor-centered organization will craft its message in a way that appeals to the donor and potential donor. Letters about the “end of the year” should be scheduled and worded to reflect that the end of the year is December 31 for individuals. The timing of the request should be based on the donor and the donor’s frame of reference rather than the organization and the organization’s frame of reference.

A survey conducted by the Direct Mail Association indicates that an organization has the best chance of getting its publication read if it is received in February through May or September. January, August, October, and November are mediocre months and, not surprisingly, June and July, when many people are busy with vacations and outings, are the worst months for direct mail.

Letters in February through May should be more focused on the beginning months of the year, and letters in September, October, and November should be directed to end-of-year giving. If organizations are donor centered, they recognize that many major donors tend to make gifts late in the calendar year, often between Christmas Day and December 31, and those organizations prepare for that pattern of giving.

Donor centered implies that the actions that are used to say “thank you” express appreciation, and that reports back to the donor are not focused on the gift, but are focused on the person who chose to make the gift. If an organization keeps the person’s choice to contribute to this specific organization at the center of its thinking, its messages will be more thoughtful and meaningful.

Donor centered also means being flexible and recognizing that every donor is unique with different interests, values, goals, and expectations. The donor-centered organization listens to its donors and is willing to assist them to the fullest extent possible. Some donors like to receive flowers on special occasions while others see flowers as a waste of resources.

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Excerpted from Effective Donor Relationsby Janet L. Hedrick Copyright © 2009 by Janet L. Hedrick. Excerpted by permission.
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