Take Our Donor-Happiness Quiz

Mr. Donor, How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I hope you are happy with my organization, Mr. Donor! I hope you will stick around and become a die-hard long term supporter!

Your donors are your “money in the bank” because they are funding your work.

Without funding, we’d all be pretty much dead in the water.

So what do you owe your donors? Tons, I think.

And could you possibly see your donors as partners with you who want to change the world as much as you do?

Well, let’s see what it would take for you to keep your donors happy and in close partnership with you.

Here are some insights from Tom Ahern‘s recent webinar for my peeps:

Tom’s insights about the way we talk and treat our donors are on the money. And speaking of money, nonprofits who have followed his advice have sometimes DOUBLED their fundraising.

So this stuff works, folks!

Take this quiz that I fashioned based on Tom’s recommendations:

1. The Donor-Happiness Test: How happy are YOUR donors?

Based on overall nonprofit donor retention data, most nonprofit donors are NOT happy!

Since the probability of your donor renewing her gift to YOUR wonderful charity is less than 50%, something must not be working well, don’t you think?

What would it take to increase your donors’ happiness, which would then increase their giving?

When you craft your newsletter, write headlines, design pledge cards, create thank you letters and impact reports — all of these are opportunities to make your donors HAPPY!

If your donor renewal rate is less than 50%, then you are failing the Donor Happiness Test. 

2. The Asking Test: Are you doing more asking or more thanking?

Many fundraising shops run on a cycle of asking campaigns. There’s a fall campaign and a spring campaign of several appeals all tied together with a common brand and theme.

But how many thank yous and impact reports are you sending to donors in between the solicitations?

Remember the old fundraising adage: Find seven ways to thank your donors, and they’ll give again.

If you are doing more asking than you are thanking, then you are failing the Asking Test.

If you missed our Donor-Loyalty webinars this week you can still get the recordings here.

3. The Bragging Test: How much are you bragging?

Take a look at Tom’s slide:

This is the way most organizations communicate to their donors.

It’s such boring bragging. And it’s NOT donor-centered, is it?

If you go on and on about your nonprofit’s achievements, then you fail the Bragging Test. 

4. The Hugging Test: Are you hugging your donors?

Whaaaaaat? Are you in the business of actually passing out hugs? 

Well, do you have a warm and friendly tone when you talk to donors?

Do you sound like a nice person who thinks they are great? Do you actually tell them how great they are?

Then why not take it a step further and send your donor a hug? Can you say we love you? Can you send a Gratitude Report?

How often do you send your donors hugs? If you never do, you are failing the Hug Test!

Bottom line

All this donor-centered stuff IS HARD to pull off. Why? Because our natural inclination is to talk about ourselves.

But if you can make this change, you CAN create a base of loyal sustainers who give year after year.

Just think what you could accomplish if you could count on a generous, reliable cash flow from donors who were wildly supportive of your cause!

Did you miss our Donor Loyalty classes this week?

If you want to see Tom’s world-class presentation and also learn Lynne Wester’s (the Donor Relations Guru) – expert recommendations on the donors’ post-gift experience, you can purchase the recordings and slides here.

This is some of the best training you can get your hands on. I highly recommend!