Have you seen the AT&T commercials featuring the children? The simplicity! They create a simple concept like ‘cheaper’ is better than ‘more expensive’ and then the tagline appears: It’s not complicated!
Well, Donor Retention is not complicated! The simple concept: it is about relationships! Not that much different than how a good friendship develops – finding a common cause and then building the friendship. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying donor retention is easily. Building relationships is time consuming and exhaustive! But, I love the idea that it doesn’t have to be complicated.
For example, I was just in San Diego at the AFP International Conference on Fundraising. This was my first opportunity to attend in more than 5 years. What was my greatest take away? The great opportunity to build and renew relationships! Having dinner each night with friends, consultants, current or prospective clients allowed for wonderful opportunities to strengthen or start relationships. Hard work? Yes. Simple concept? Also yes! Although the concept is not complicated, building relationships take time, effort, and commitment.
Each meeting, every second spent, every introduction made were all opportunities to build a relationship that could last for a long time. Not that much different than donor retention. See, retaining donors is not complicated! Good relationships lead to understanding what makes that donor tick! Find out why they might have a passion for what you do and then build on it! Not intellectually difficult to understand, but it takes work.
Donor retention is not complicated! Especially if you have next generation tools to help you with building and understanding your donor’s engagement to your organization! I urge you to take a look at our software and start building deeper relationships with your donors that could last a lifetime!
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