Top 5 reflections – a year at Money Tree Fundraising
This week I've been celebrating my first year of working at Money Tree Fundraising. Here are my top 5 reflections from the last 12 months:
1. Organisational culture drives high value fundraising success
Every charity has an organisational culture based on symbols, language, patterns of behaviour and assumptions and values. Some of these are visible, some are hidden. It’s been important for me as a consultant to understand these early on in working with clients and highlighting how they impact on their current high value fundraising programme. Sometimes charity fail to acknowledge the influence of their patterns of behaviour, ways of working or values can have on high value fundraising and as a result become frustrated when high value fundraising isn’t as successful as expected.
2. Major donor fundraising is for every charity
I’ve worked with some very small organisations this year that raise a significant amount of their fundraising income from major donors. I’ve worked with larger organisations which are raising no or very little income from major donors. The size of your organisation doesn’t matter – it’s how relationships are built with donors and how your charity engages with them. They key is to make sure everyone in your organisation know what counts as a major gift and the process for sharing this information across your charity. Once everyone understands this, you’ll find colleagues spotting potential major donors across your organisation and its wider network.
3. Great fundraisers know and understand their donors' philanthropic motivations
Philanthropists want to offer more than financial support; they want to share their expertise and social capital too. Great fundraisers identify the motivations of the donors in their portfolios and tailor bespoke supporter journeys. Volunteer Fundraising Boards can be helpful in coordinating donor’s non financial support but equally great fundraisers know when high value supporters would most benefit from working on a 1 to 1 basis.
4. Donors’ giving history matter
One-off big gifts are always brilliant moments to celebrate but loyalty matters. Does your fundraising programme show the same enthusiasm to donors who have been supporting you every month/quarter/year for a significant period? Looking at supporters’ gift history and their length of support ensures you don’t miss acknowledging donors who have contributed the same value (or more) than one-off big gifts.
Reviewing your donors’ giving history can also help your organisation revisit how you define a major donor and whether your current programme provides them with what they need to continue supporting.
5. Don’t lose sight of fundraising fundamentals
All fundraising events should raise money, communications with donors should be clear, concise, action focused and major donor programmes should deliver viable returns on investment. Building trust and strong relationships with donors is vital for major donor fundraising but don’t forget that securing major gifts is the main aim of your major donor programme.