Welcome to John Brown Limited

By Shawna Hershfield, Communications Director

I don’t care how many donor database programs call them “records,” donors are people, too. Does that seem obvious? Consider the following:

“Moves management,” a term that defines the nuance and emotions of developing human relationships in easy to follow steps creates a virtual world that can separate us from our donors, many of whom are our friends too.

When development teams shop for donor software, those of us with the best intentions look for programs that will not only produce reports and track trends, but will help us to be more sensitive to the human side of our donors. Truly, the best fundraisers like their donors and want to know them.

However, many planned and major gifts officers maintain a portfolio of 200 donor families. That volume can leave memories a little fuzzy as to which donor has a grandson in the Olympics and which one has a treasured poodle that will turn 12 years old next October. The success of our solicitations is based on trust and mutual understanding of one another. That intimacy is blown when we send a card to our donors wishing good luck to little Fluffy as she attempts to win the gold next winter in ice skating. Their terse response: “We don’t even let Fluffy outside now that her hip dysplasia has kicked in.” Will you lose your donor over a faux pas like this? No, but it hurts your credibility and it’s a little embarrassing. Good record keeping on a broad based program includes relationship elements as well as broad based financial data.

What is appropriate to include in a donor record? As you learn from the visits you will be making during 80 percent of your work life, it is appropriate to maintain a record of all information that the organization should know. How did they come to be members? Who else in their family supports you? What business are they in? What else do they support? What do they like to do with your organization and with their other free time? What date or event have they told you is meaningful to them that you could sensitively acknowledge if you had a program to remind you about six months later?

Fancy databases only work if you put the information in. We’ve talked to numerous clients who manage that discipline in different ways. Some development managers make it mandatory to submit trip reports into a donor database before expense reports are honored. Some work with support staff to dictate their comments when prompted by bulleted headings like family or dates of importance or asset information. Another of our clients drives to a Starbucks after visiting clients and sits in her car, sipping a latté writing down any commitments for follow up and early thoughts about what would be an appropriate next move.

With the information loaded into your database, the trick becomes making use of it. Handwritten notes, as we all know, are the backbone of many endowments. It’s a good habit to write and a fairly simple addition to many donor databases to create “tickler” alarms for important dates. Emails are becoming increasingly popular as more and more charities have databases that include email addresses. That’s great. Use them, but don’t think an email message replaces good manners of a bread and butter note. Emails are one delete button away from being forgotten. Cards are not.

Mix it up. Call and write. Leave a message if you don’t talk to them. Don’t you love it when a donor calls you and leaves a message of appreciation for your note or an event that was particularly successful? They like coming home to a message acknowledging their contributions to your success in the same way.

Finally, be sincere. This week, I received a solicitation call from a large charity in my community. The woman asking me to re-join the organization that I’d allowed to lapse was reading a script and sounded like she was calling from some phone bank that would be calling to sell me vacation property in Mexico if my charity hadn’t hired them. I hung up the phone sorry that I’d given the charity my telephone number. You know when someone means what they are saying to you. Be sure that anyone responsible for telling your story believes what they are saying.

“People give to people” is a philosophy any fundraising consultant will tell you. The most successful consultants understand that the philosophy is more clearly stated that people give from their hearts to people they trust, and support their choices with their brains by choosing charities who manage their charitable investments professionally and personally. At John Brown Limited, we can help you to create real world development strategies with a virtual support system that works.

October 2006 Contents

Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act: Special Tax Incentives to Increase Charitable Gifts

Oh! The Humanity! Keeping it Real in a Virtual World

October 2006 Contents

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