Relationship Fundraising 3rd Edition: Thanks (still) seems to be the hardest word
This is the first in a series of articles to celebrate the launch of the third edition of Relationship Fundraising. We’re proud to Be organising a webinar and Q&A with Ken on Tuesday 27th August. This is your chance to get hold of a copy of the book and ask Ken any questions.
Back in 2011, I wrote a blog post about how Ken Burnett’s 2nd edition of Relationship Fundraising changed my life. I’m thrilled that a snippet of that article appears in the third edition that has just been published.
Although time and technology moves on, I still believe (and the evidence shows) that relationship fundraising is an approach that helps raise more money for the causes we care about.
A few years ago, to mark the publication of my own book, I did a series of talks on the subject. These were generally well received, but I never forget one piece of feedback I got. It was along these lines:
“Great talk, but do we really still need to talk about the importance of thanking supporters?”
Sadly we still do.
Over the last year or so, the Supporter Experience Collective has run mystery shopping for clients and workshop participants. We make online donations and then sit back and see what happens.
In total, we’ve probably made 35-40 such donations. We ask participants to rate the thank you and the subsequent communications they receive.
Out of all the online donations made, only one charity (gold star Great Ormond Street Hospital) sent a physical, as well as an email, thank you. No-one called.
In fact, around a quarter of charities failed to send any sign of acknowledgement or thanks beyond the auto-receipt. A similar number failed to send any follow up comms, despite being opted-in.
The charities included large household names and small, local charities.
Overall, no attendee rated the donation thank you and subsequent journey they received higher than seven out of ten.
Why so low? Generally there was little or no feedback to the supporter or impact reporting. No non-financial ways to engage. No real interest in the donor as a person.
You might say that ‘well, it’s only a £10 or £20 donation, so it’s not worth calling to thank’ or ‘we don’t have time to do that’.
I get it, but think it’s wrong. We know how hard it is to find and recruit donors. We know retention continues to be a struggle. Yet too many of us are still failing to get the basics of gratitude right.
So whilst I’m delighted to see a third edition of Ken’s classic book being published, it saddens me that in the thirty years since the first edition, we’ve not, as a sector, heeded the lessons.
Want a free place to the webinar and Q&A?
We’re looking for people who are the shining examples and do consistently apply relationship fundraising in practice.
If you’ve got a story to share, then we’d love to record a five minute video outlining your approach and results. In return, we’ll give you a place on the webinar, a copy of the third edition and make a donation to a charity of your choice.