donorsAre you scaring your donors away?

A lot of organisations in the not for profit, charity and community based sector will usually have some form of fundraising strategy.  Whether this is an active fundraising campaign linked to a strategy or simply a passive approach where you hope people make donations, an important issue is to review your approach and make sure you are not putting potential donors off.

Here are some tips that may assist you when you review your fundraising message and may avoid putting potential donors off as well as losing existing donors.  Retaining existing donors is critical as the cost of recruiting new donors will far exceed the cost of keeping current donors.  As such, some tips include: 

  • Try to avoid always asking for donations.  Whether this be through your website, social media strategy or when running events.  If donors think they are going to be constantly asked to make donations every time they have a contact with the organisation they will stop engaging with the organisation.
  • When developing your fundraising program don’t always have a focus on negative issues.  It can be a bit like the news service in that if all you hear are negative stories then you are less likely to take in the message.  Hence, include positive stories and outcomes that highlight what your organisation has achieved.
  • Try to avoid situations where you state that “people must make donations” or something negative will happen such as, for example, the organisation may need to close, services becoming less available or staff may need to be made redundant.  Donors may sense that they are being made accountable or being held hostage if they don’t contribute.

The important point is to examine what your fundraising message is and how it may be perceived by potential or existing donors.  Being professional about your approach and the impact your fundraising strategy has is critical for obtaining new donor or retaining existing ones.