Fundraising Tip: Take Time for Relationships with Donors

My first full week at Survivor Justice Center was filled with donor connections.

As I continue sharing fundraising tips while making the transition from Altrui to Survivor Justice Center, my focus will be on actions I take every week that support relationship-building with our donors. In my first full week, most of my time was spent reaching out to donors and those who had made a donation in the last year or so.

A point of clarification. I consider a donor to be someone who has donated at least twice. Someone who has made one donation is someone who made one donation. To me, they become a donor once they make a second donation.

Feel free to disagree. I share this because when I write about spending time with donors and spending time with those who have donated, you, the reader, understand that to me these are different types of people who have donated.

The key part of this week’s fundraising tip is to make time to reach out to and spend time with donors. When I share this with fundraisers, many ask me how to make time to meet with donors. There is so much going on, and …

Most reading this can add to the and.

Nothing is more important to a nonprofit fundraiser and the mission they work for than spending time with donors and reaching out to donors. Take time to get in front of your calendar. Start filling in times and days that you can reach out to donors. I find that if something is on my calendar, it has a better chance of happening. Being on my calendar also gives me daily or weekly reminders of what is most important as I go day to day in my work.

As you read this, you can already think of who you want to reach out to.

Make the time.

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Take a risk. Be of service. Support your friends and colleagues. Be kind.