Good afternoon.
I’d love to know if anyone has a great example of consecutive milestone recognition you feel works well for your institution.
Has anyone seen success in this strategy in increasing donor participation?
Two things examples I’ve used/heard of others using, what I love about both of them is how simple they were.
- Once a month we ran a report of donors who gave exactly 12 months ago – regardless if they’d made a gift since then. We’d then send out a postcard or email thanking them for their gift in [MONTH] of last year and thanking them for being a donor ## of years consistently.
- Another org, a small university, did something similar but included an ask. If your last gift was 12 months ago, they’d send an ask – “[NAME], we’re writing to let you know that your last gift was 12 months ago – you’ve given ## of years consecutively and we’re so grateful for your generosity – hope you’ll continue.
It sounds like #1 is more along the lines of what you’re looking for. Personally, I wasn’t comfortable with executing #2 but was told it was an effective strategy and that donors liked the reminder (a DII athletics department for context). What I loved about both is that they were easy, you could celebrate someone giving 2 years the same as 15, I wouldn’t replace milestones but easy ways to recognize folks in an ongoing manner (I think) is just as important as the milestones.
I’m here for this question as well! Consecutive/# of years of giving is one of my top indicators when I’m looking at major gift potential.
We do a good job w first time donors. (Phone calls& notes from students, for example). Milestones like consecutive or total years is our next step.
Will stay tuned!
Consecutive giving is one of my favorite ways of recognizing donors, because it promotes loyalty.
I’m not sure the question is the right one to ask: does promoting loyalty increase donor participation? Well, it increases the number of loyal donors which should free up some resources to invest in recovering or acquiring other donors.
I.e. if you are growing a 3+ year loyalty society, then presumably you have more donors with a high retention rate (retention rates grow with each year of consecutive year and tend to level off around 3-5 years consecutive), which means that you don’t have to spend so much to keep those donors, so you have more money for giving days, crowdfunding, etc.
But honestly, the biggest benefit of increased loyalty is that consecutive donors are much more likely to make major/planned gifts.
These ideas are really good. I can vouch for the gift anniversary solicitation working very well. I have also sent surveys/nurturing emails in the months leading up to the gift, which helps create more of a relationship.