Four Key Characteristics of Donor Relations

You may have heard of the four principles or the  four pillars of donor relations. Follow those guidelines, and you’ll be sure to have a complete donor relations program that complies with recognized best practice. I’d argue, however, that if you don’t keep four key characteristics of the work in mind, your program will grow stale, the teams who deliver it will become dissatisfied with their jobs, and your donors will lose out on what could be a more meaningful relationship with your organization. 

First, let’s revisit the four principles. These are the four categories of activity that are conducted with the intent of forging a trusted and long lasting relationship between the organization and its donors.

  • Gift Acceptance and Management - also known as compliance, this is the part of donor relations that can properly be called stewardship. Policies and procedures are in place to thoughtfully and properly receive philanthropic gifts and show that they were used as intended.

  • Acknowledgement - the timely response(s) to donors to state that a gift has been received and will be put to work. Depending on the size of the gift and organizational norms, this can include a receipt and one or more messages of thanks sent by email or traditional mail.

  • Recognition - the public ways in which donors are thanked, ranging from published lists, to naming opportunities to recognition events. This area is diversifying with new technology and is frequently where creativity and customization is most readily applied.

  • Reporting - any mechanism by which donors are informed of the impact of their giving. An annual or quarterly report may be prepared for the majority of donors while subsets of donors, especially those giving at the highest levels or establishing designated funds, may receive detailed, customized reports.

The four pillars model evolved from the four principles. Acknowledgment and recognition retain their original definitions, but with the advent of new technologies, there are more opportunities for creativity in the form, delivery and aligning with donor preferences in both categories. The other two pillars introduce ideas that are focused on how a donor feels and behaves in response to his or her relationship with the organization.

  • Stewardship - the responsible and transparent handling of gifts in line with the donor’s intent. Effective stewardship builds trust, and when married with effective reporting, establishes an ongoing and productive relationship with the donor that can be measured by continued giving, increased giving, giving to priorities, and bringing other donors into the fold.

  • Engagement - the opportunities presented to the donor to perpetuate and expand their relationship with the organization. Engagement activities are structured around the donor’s interest and involve providing positive experiences and appropriate access to individuals and the activities central to the organization’s mission. Engagement is intended to build affinity and commitment to the organization and its mission.

The Four Key Characteristics of Donor Relations

The best donor relations programs integrate the following  characteristics into the work of donor relations. Doing so generates a better work product, improves collaboration and job satisfaction for your staff, and allows you to monitor and further improve your donor relations program over time.

Be authentic - identify and then showcase the specific qualities of your organization. This is more than just the obvious brand elements like a logo, colors, fonts or a mascot. Take time to establish a voice of gratitude specific to your organization, one that conveys the nature of your organization’s relationship to its donors. Most importantly, be genuine, truthful and transparent. Don’t fall into the trap of being too formal with donors. They are very important people, but they want to feel like people you know and trust. Be a little bit vulnerable, just like you would be in talking with family.

Be dependable - for donor relations to work at scale, it has to be a system that is fully operationalized. It is not a set of rote tasks that are completed by a single person or team. Donor relations is a strategically designed and executed system  most often carried out by multiple teams. To succeed, the plan must be well documented and activities need to happen when they should. Furthermore, open communication and good recordkeeping builds trust between teams, allowing them to work more flexibly within the structure provided.

Be collaborative - donors want to have a relationship with the people that represent your organization, not a system. Don’t let organizational silos, tight schedules, cost constraints or technology turn donor relations into a series of strict routines.  Creative donor relations programs rely on a collaborative effort where all parties contribute. The line between donor cultivation and donor relations is very fuzzy so there are efficiencies to be found in working together.  Involve other people, look for synergy, integrate good ideas, celebrate successes and work together to solve any problems. 

Make it memorable AND measurable - even great programs improve when they can be proactively managed for success. As you integrate more creativity into your donor relations program, be careful to identify and track key performance indicators. Include quantitative and qualitative measures of your program outputs as well as measures of the effectiveness of your donor relations program.

  • Quantitative output measures might  include: How many acknowledgments or reports  did we generate, are communications going out on schedule, how many donors attended the event?

  • Qualitative output measures might include: Are recent communications more authentic? What efficiencies have been achieved between teams? Have we improved our customization and personalization routines?

  • Effectiveness measures monitor changes in donor behavior in response to the donor relations program and might include: Has our donor retention rate improved? Are donors giving to priorities set by the organization? Are donors participating in engagement activities and encouraging others to participate?

These four key characteristics are not unique to the work of donor relations, they apply to all organizations that are encouraging  growth, improved productivity or innovation. They make work more enjoyable, achieve better outcomes and create a routine of assessment, iteration and improvement that allows for ever-growing  success.

Additional reading:

ConsultingAnne Manner-McLartydonor relations and stewardshipComment