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Grant Writing for Beginners "No more struggling"
Fundraising Donor Surveys
by Tony Poderis
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If we're going to ask people for money, it sure helps if they think highly of both our organization and its mission.
Learn About Your Donors Methods to learn the opinions and impressions donors have of your organization can be implemented in a number of ways, including mail, e-mail, telephone, focus discussions, and face-to-face meetings. Whether comprehensive one-on-one interviews, or a mix of any of the other options, surveys do not need to be complicated research instruments. A simple questionnaire (or format, for personal meetings) can be tallied either by hand or, if you structure the questions right, on a simple computer spreadsheet. When conducting a donor satisfaction and donor interest evaluation, I think a few suggestions on how to collect data are in order:
What Do You Want to Know? First, take a hard look at what you want to learn and about the uses to which you intend to put the donors' responses. Although some questions are "standard," you will be more productive if you develop a survey tailored to your organization's specific need. Whether comprehensive one-on-one interviews, or a mix of other information gathering methods is used, donor survey planning must take into account:
Suggested Questions to Be Presented to Donors (Use or adapt those of relevance and importance to your organization and the survey method)
Responses Will your donors answer honestly and objectively? The answer is a qualified "Yes." Some will answer a question not quite truthfully, and we may never know the reason. Some may not understand a question and thus, will give a "wrong" answer. Sometimes a donor may find a question to be inappropriate, even offensive, and they will not reply. Acting on the Findings and Recommendations Once a donor survey has been completed and you've received a report of its findings, conclusions, and recommendations, you're ready to start the toughest part of the process. Now, you have to listen and pay attention and act. You have a wonderful opportunity to benefit greatly from what your donors told you about the pleasure and satisfaction they derive from their support to your organization, as well as to be alerted to their concerns and cares. You work as best you can to "fix" the things that need fixing, according to what the donors told you. And you need to continue and to enhance the cultivation practices which are the most desired and satisfying to your donors. This will surely help in great measure to maximize your chances for their giving to continue, and it will provide opportunities for even larger gifts in the future. What if the Donor Survey Tells You What You Don't Want to Hear? Make sure that you take the time to go over every aspect of the donor survey. Don't skip over negative things that on first reading seem minor. It is folly to take the time to conduct a donor survey, spend the money on it, and then risk alienating people important to the organization by ignoring the survey's recommendations. An organization that ignores some or all of a donor survey's findings is making a mistake that can damage the organization. Who Should Conduct the Survey? The principal value of having outside counsel perform a donor survey is the opportunity to obtain candid answers to tough questions. A consultant is not part of the organization's "family," and that means the responses from survey subjects will be more candid and complete. However, face-to-face meetings between donors and staff or volunteers are great relationship builders as well as a productive data-gathering tool when structured for "listening and learning," instead of "talking and selling." When They Become Non-Donors You should as well consider conducting selective "exit" interviews with major donors who have declared that their previous gift to your organization was their last gift---whether or not you know the reason they asked you to take them off your donor list. As well, donor surveys should be selectively conducted with those whose major gifts have been missed for no known reason for at least two years. Rejections Are Opportunities to Correct Real or Perceived Problems There are times when you can selectively conduct an exceedingly simple, but effective, survey. When I was conducting telefunding campaigns as development director of the Cleveland Orchestra, I would look at the reports on persons who the night before had asked to be taken off our list. Some of them would be people who had given us $250 or $500 or even $1,000 in the past. I would call them and say, "I know you said no, and we will take you off our list, but I want to be sure we are taking you off because of something that we can't fix or is out of our control." They would, invariably, appreciate the call and would tell me if they indeed wanted to be taken off the list because of a grievance. Sometimes the reason was something we could fix. Sometimes they would even reconsider and make a gift, but I never asked them to. The purpose of my call was to save these prospects for the future, if possible, and to find out if we had done something wrong. You can use this same strategy at any time, even when the morning's mail and other sources bring bad news of a loss or a reduction of a major donation. Don't wait to find out. Building Donor Loyalty If you want donors to be loyal to, and support, your organization, they must know you, trust you, and believe that you are fulfilling your mission and using their contributions wisely. If you don't know who your donors are and what they think of your organization, you can't successfully communicate with them. Just think. There you are, for once not asking for their money, but making them feel as important as they really are when you ask for their opinions and impressions about your organization. Be of good cheer and confident of the almost always welcome and delighted reception you will receive when you ask a donor to participate in your survey. It's almost a sure thing that the donor will say, "I'll be happy to answer you questions. No one ever asked me before." 
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About the Author: Tony Poderis was for 20 years to 1993 Director of Development for The Cleveland Orchestra and its Summer Home, Blossom Music Center. He was responsible for Cleveland's largest annual institutional fund-raising campaign. Since 1993, Tony has been a fund-raising consultant serving all non-profit institutions' needs to develop and to maximize their potential to raise Annual, Endowment, Capital, and Sponsorship & Underwriting funds. Tony's experiences have won him a wide audience. At many hundreds of seminars and workshops in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico over the course of his 30 years in fund-raising, he has addressed every facet of raising contributed income for social service, medical, educational, religious, and cultural institutions. He is a fund-raising Speaker/Specialist consultant to the United States Information Agency and the Mexican Government. Tony is the author of a 115 page book on fund-raising published by FundAmerica Press titled "It's a Great Day to Fund-Raise!" In this publication, he has condensed his nearly three decades of fund-raising experience to provide a concise step-by-step guide to help all volunteers and professionals be as successful as possible as they carry out their fund-raising responsibilities for their respective non-profit institutions. Visit his web site at http://www.raise-funds.com for more information about his book and lots of other great fundraising advice. |
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