Keep Your Donors and Funders Close: Effective Stewardship
This article has been compiled from material originally created for the Rebuilding Heritage training programme, ran by The Heritage Alliance.
Read the original article here.
It’s important to make the people and organisations that support you feel special and valued. Translating this into the world of fundraising: you need to ensure that you steward and look after those who furnish your organisation with the financial resources it needs to operate. Without funders and donors your work would not be possible, so give them the recognition they deserve!
Stewardship does cost time and money, so make sure you budget for it. In the long run, it makes good business sense to keep your funders close. Statistics show that this is a cost-effective and sensible use of funds as it costs around five or six times more to recruit a new supporter than to retain an existing one.
Give people options and think about turning donors into active fundraisers for your cause (or other types of income generators), or one-off donors into regular givers.
Offer Other Avenues for Support
Costs are rising not just for individuals and families, but for everyone: companies, statutory bodies, trusts and foundations and of course heritage organisations. But individuals’ and organisations’ situations are everchanging.
If a past supporter can’t donate to your organisation today, don’t just drop them off the mailing list. Keep in touch. They may be in a position to help you again in the future.
Also, offering non-financial ways to get involved is an excellent means of continuing your relationship without asking for more than they are able to give. Whilst this may not increase funds in the short-term, in the longer-term it may bear the fruit you’re looking for.
Remember that if people want to help but can’t afford to donate, then volunteering is a perfect alternative — the gift of time is a great contribution as most heritage organisation are always in need of an extra pair of hands!
Volunteering also fosters deeper engagement and builds a long term commitment to an organisation. Don’t only think of long-term volunteering options, but also one-off or occasional volunteering opportunities. S.P.A.B.’s ‘working party’ events are a great example of these.
