Creating a 5-Star Donor Experience

Today on 7 Figure Fundraising, host Trevor Bragdon interviews Dan Remmenga, Donor Relations Manager for the Foundation of Government Accountability. In his role, Dan cultivates and strengthens relationships with FGA’s donors. Today’s conversation is centered around increasing relationships with donors to build long-lasting partnerships.

Dan’s discusses how fundraising should be viewed an opportunity to build relationships in order to advance a mission. FGA maintains a very small fundraising team, each member with their own specific role to perform. This structure ensures each staff member is able to hone in on their one specific skill rather than generalizing while performing several different roles. Statistically one out of every five donors don’t give again. To avoid this, Dan stresses the importance of treating new donors with sincerity, appreciation and ensuring they are familiar with your origin story. FGA’s overall donor retention rate is 82%, putting them in the top 3-5% of organizations. They have found it more efficient to focus on the smaller portion of a donor base who are extremely enthusiastic about the organization rather than putting less energy into cultivating relationships with a larger pool of people.

For new organizations, a 3-star donor experience is a good starting point. In this tier, you want to ensure a prompt and solid thank you system and give the donor context of how their donations will be used. At a 4-star tier, you will begin to add in personalizations and regular updates. At the 5-star point, you want to go above and beyond the regular process, making it hyper-individualized and adding in meaningful gifts. A fundraiser should be a long-term mindset and viewed as a partnership rather than a sales transaction. Approaching donors with this in mind creates a genuine experience for everyone involved.

• Learn more about Dan Remmenga