A
strong stewardship approach is key to any fundraising program. A campaign tests
the strength of the resources your team has in place--staff, systems, and the
overall culture of philanthropy, to name only a few.
Many donors are asked multiple times over the course
of a campaign, especially a multi-year campaign. They might be asked for their
annual gift, for an event sponsorship, for an initial campaign gift, for a
stretch campaign gift, and potentially a planned gift commitment. This often
means asking more than once in a given year.
There's
a commonly held best practice that a donor or constituent must be touched at
least seven times between asks. Many organizations are implementing this
framework on the basis of a donor being asked and giving once each year, but
the system isn't prepared to handle a scenario where you might need to touch
your VIPs more frequently than that. Or at least, not yet!
In
this session, get real life examples and suggestions on how to draw on
relationships with clinical leaders to ensure that these touches are happening
in a regular, compelling way, without devaluing the voice of your leader, or
leading donors to assume that every time they get an email or call from you
that they are being asked for another gift.
Approaches
will focus on maintaining an internal cadence with buy in from team members,
educating clinical staff on what constitutes a meaningful update for the donor,
(it might be less than they think!) and elevating patient stories and voices
derived from expanded grateful patient fundraising practices. Focus will be on
activating resources in place to implement these practices and being scrappy
and resourceful, elevating your team beyond the 'once-a-year' stewardship approach.
Presenter:
Sarah Sexton | Write, Editor, Principal | Sexton Strategy