Should You Drive Year-End Giving With A Draft Donor List?
Week 47 is a short one, so this week’s task is considering rather than producing. Today’s image is a dreamy view of some woods, which is a good setting for thinking things over.
One way to push lapsed donors to give when the deadline is looming is to send them a draft of your donor honor roll, year to date. This gambit has to fit with the culture of your particular organization, so use your One Hour to consider this option and decide if you want to use it.
When is this tactic effective? If:
- Donors recognize one another’s names
- They are somewhat competitive, and
- They enjoy seeing their names listed.
Whether you list donors by dollar ranges or alphabetically in one big list is another choice to make. In my experience with a variety of organizational cultures, I would advise against this if you have a critical mass of anonymous donors and/or historically your organization has not publicly listed its supporters. That can indicate that your donors value their privacy and like to see themselves as humble, egalitarian, or modest. If you are considering this tactic, definitely talk it over first with a handful of people who represent your donor population.
Sharing a draft donor listing was effective in a hospital setting where the medical staff had its own donor section. It worked like this:
A month before the fiscal year closed, a memo went to the entire medical staff. It was intentionally impersonal, without dynamic information, so everyone received the same thing. The message was “please check to see that your name is listed correctly” and the list of those who had given year to date, other than any who were anonymous, was enclosed. People who thought they had already given called the office and had a conversation with a kind and cheerful staff member who told them when they had last sent a gift, so the donors renewed in order to appear on the final list.
If this is right for you, it is simple to generate and will help to bring in both renewals and first-time gifts from people who are influenced by seeing their friends and colleagues giving. The two things to make sure you get right are:
Taking care to omit listing anonymous donors, and
Properly preparing the person who will be responding to phone calls and emails.
Donors who reach out to have a conversation are creating an opportunity for you to build the relationships you have with them; ensure that they are handled with sensitivity and respect.