From the course: Nonprofit Fundraising: A Beginner’s Guide

Building donor relationships

From the course: Nonprofit Fundraising: A Beginner’s Guide

Start my 1-month free trial Buy for my team

Building donor relationships

“

- How do you determine when someone is your friend? Is it based on shared interests, or perhaps how often you speak to one another? You may even base it on how easy it is to see them. Donors use similar measurements when deciding whether to partner with you and your organization. Because as philosopher Aristotle said, "Friendship is essentially a partnership." In this lesson, I'll show how to build mutually beneficial relationships with your donors. In this new era of relationship-driven fundraising, you must focus on value creation. Value creation includes creating value for both the organization and the donor. When you ask a prospect to make a gift, their agreement signals the start of a relationship with you and your nonprofit. To create a mutually beneficial relationship in the nonprofit world, you must ensure that donors who are contributing to your cause feel appreciated. To do this, you need to treat your donors as lifelong partners with your nonprofit. Show your donors how their cause links to their passion, interest and needs. Stay in touch. Schedule regular calls or visits to develop the relationship. Create open and honest communication. Use the we approach, which avoids the use of I and their mission, but instead uses team-based words like we and our mission. And finally, be responsible and ethical. Take accountability for any mistakes made. Building donor relationships goes beyond getting the donation. It's about building trust by creating value for the donor and your nonprofit. Your focus as a fundraiser should be to create mutually beneficial relationships. Think about a current donor you've worked with in the past. How can you brighten their day this week?

Contents