Episode #212
Do you retain your donors as well as you could?
Here’s a relatively simple and cost effective way to steward your donors. In today’s episode, Heidi Thomson from Evelation Consulting talks about creating a “Thanks-for-Giving” event. It’s an event, the organization she worked with does every year. They hold it right after Thanksgiving.
Heidi shares the different take-aways they get from putting on the event. One thing she learned is that it’s a great way to boost year end giving from current donors. Watch the video to learn more.
If you have any stories or advice for retaining donors, please share it in a comment box under the video. Thanks.
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If you have any stories or advice for retaining donors, please share it in a comment box. Thanks.
Do you have other details such as who spoke, topics, activities used in 2hrs, dress, day of week, other food and beverages served and agenda. Was there an ASK?What about the other 2375 not invited? The same 500 people invited each year or different group each year?
Thanks
Joe
Great idea – “thanks-for-giving”
I love the idea and am just wondering, was there and “ask” at the event? After? How were the end of year donations solicited?
Very creative idea. What was the cost of the event? What was the net profit on the donors that attended the event over the next 6 months? What was the impact to retention of these donors over the next 24 months?
I wonder how many of these folks made legacy gifts already or would like to do so? Next time maybe include some hand-outs about this kind of giving in a takeaway packet along with a response card. Big money opportunities might have been left on the table. If you don’t “soft-ask,” you don’t get.
Great idea. Wish I would have seen it a few months ago though. 🙂
This is brilliant!
We do this regularly as a Breakfast, it is a huge way to capitalize on Giving Tuesday as a way for the organization to give back to it’s donors and say THANK YOU.
I love this idea. Hope my board will too.
We did a low budget “friends of…”event years ago for our nature park to thank donors and interact with board members. It included a cookout and tours with insider info of how things work, needs, etc.
It was a major flop. we got feedback they didn’t want funds to go to thanking them but towards programing. I have received nasty notes when we have included postage on donor reply cards as an experiment. It paid for itself but wasn’t worth the bad feelings. It was looked upon as bad management of funds.
we just sent out thank you for giving cards. It will be interesting if I get negative feedback. I guess results vary.
My favorite way to do this type of event is to have the entire program be about telling stories. I plant a few folks ahead of time to tell their own story (why they became connected with your organization — which often includes how they, a friend or family member were helped by you); then I open it up to everyone in the room to tell their story. With all the stories being shared, people’s passion for your organization is re-ignited big time!
Great idea. Few people realize the ROI that this can bring in. Good way to deepen donor commitment.
I love this idea. We do a Thank-a-Giver (TAG) day where we have beneficiaries write notes and thanks donors.
For those that missed the point above, thanking donors with this stewardship event did not raise a dime at the event, as the event doesn’t cost to attend and there is not an ask. It was simply to say thank you. However, this organization reminded people why they supported their work in early December, which made those donors give to that organization at the end of December.
Love this and am curious how it intersected with the timing of Giving Tuesday. Sounds like the event happened during GT week. Was it on GT proper, the day before, or later in the week? Did the organization fundraise for Giving Tuesday? And if so, how did you navigate the stewardship event relative to GT asks? E.g., Did those attendees also receive GT appeals? How did you message the two different strands?