Relationship Fundraising

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Relationship fundraising is when a relationship is built with a donor that bonds the donor to the organization leading to a better relationship build on mutual respect. The aim of this relationship is to get donors more involved and invested in an organization. Those who practice relationship fundraising will find that donors are more likely to give repeatedly and to give larger amounts. Once a gift has been received fundraisers should continue to build upon the donor/organization relationship. One of the key aspects of relationship fundraising is meeting donor needs and encouraging involvement between the donor and the organization. Unlike traditional fundraising which centers around constant appeals,relationship fundraising revolves around …show more content…

Donors are much more likely to leave an organization that they feel did not apparently recognize their gift or the reconiction was insufficient for the size of the gift (Sargeant & Shang, 2010). One of the most common and welcomed ways to thank a donor is through a letter. A thank you letter provides an organization with a way to thank the donor in a formal yet personalized way. An acknowledgement of a gift would be sent out within one week of receiving the gift as it is just good etiquette but the sooner the better. Sending a thank you letter 6 months later sends the message that the donor is not a priority or that the gift was not very …show more content…

A nonprofit should take the time to ask the donor how they like to be contacted. Asking a donor how they like to be contacted demonstrates the fundraisers commitment to meeting donor needs. By tailoring communications to the preferences of a donor a fundraising team is moving away from intrusive interaction and toward invited interactions. Donors should be sent a communications checklist asking in what ways and what frequency a donor would like to hear from the organization. Donors can check off the ways that they like to receive information ( phone, email, letter, appeals, newsletters) and the frequency in which they would like to hear from the organization and send the checklist back to the fundraising team. On the back of the communications checklist should be a second checklist that asks the donor if they are interested in getting more information about the organization such as a video, past newsletter, photo books, past annual reports. This helps fundraising teams to learn what attributes donors respond most

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