The Power of Following Up

Hello everyone,
 
I hope this newsletter finds you well. I am back after some time off.  We, along with a bunch of other families, decided to spend New Year’s Eve at a big dinner, a hockey game and fireworks.  It was lots of fun and out of the norm for us.  Hockey is definitely a game of attrition.  It got me thinking about follow up, follow through and retention, hence you will see the article and points below.  

January and February are good months to follow up and follow through on your fourth quarter invitations to give from last year.  The fact that individuals did not give in the fourth quarter in response to your appeal does not mean that they have no interest.  We hear from many donors in the field that they often just forget to respond to an invitation to give.  They planned to follow through, but they needed follow up.  With that in mind, let’s consider a “follow up so donors can follow through” strategy and stay on your boat.  It is really simple.    
 
1. Identify donors who did not respond to your fourth quarter calendar year appeal and target that group for a personalized follow up communication.
 
2. Resend these donors an invitation to give along with a personal letter, note or phone call.  Let them know that you are thankful for their continued consideration of being a partner with you in 2019 and investing in those you serve.  Note that you are resending the invitation to invest in that partnership in case the first one was misplaced.  Consider including an insert of your board, mission and vision and the theme for the coming year.  
 
3. Keep track of donors’ responses.
 
4. Thank donors as they give.
 
Follow up, so your donors can follow through.  Many organizations don’t follow up out of fear donors will get mad.  If the donor is a transaction and your solicitation reflects that, you bet, they will get mad, not because you followed up, but because you are just resending a transactional appeal to them.  On the other hand, when you engage them as a relationship that matters, you engage them personally and share an opportunity to make a difference.  That is about building relationship, not getting checks. Speaking of checks, below are a few statistics from some good research on response rates of solicitations. 

Brian Hake and Kevin Warnke in the report, “Trust the Process,” did research on 36,000 giving decisions.  Their tracking results show that:  
•    On average donors gave:
o    54% of the amount asked for when in person
o    45% in a small group setting
o    34% when by direct mail
o    25% when by phone
•    Of the 191 million dollars these giving decisions comprised – 81% came from face to face asks

So again, follow up, follow through and retain.   When we retain our relationships, we have more opportunities to invite them in person to go deeper in our cause with us. 

Good luck as you follow up, so donors can follow through!
 
Sincerely,
 
Jamie