Engagement is Not a New Way to Ask

I just opened a promotional email from a donor database company that was promoting their new integrated texting technology which allows you to send texts to your donors as a way to “effortlessly engage donors.” The promotion then goes on to explain that, among other things, it is great to “send links to donation pages.”

There seems to be a mistaken notion that the best way to engage your donors is by asking them for money is a different way. Somehow they won’t notice that all you ever do when you reach out to them is to ask them to give more.

But we know, from research, that there is a science to engagement, and if you care to study it deeply enough you will see that asking for a gift is not engagement but it is the natural conclusion to an already engaged donor.

The real question is, how will you engage your donor? Years ago I learned that the process of building a relationship and engaging a donor is basically a series of repeated actions simplified to: “Send them a postcard, send them a clipping, give them a call. Repeat.”  And that wasn’t a bad approach, back when snail mail was the best way to send a message.

Now we have access to systems that allow us to keep track of what exactly each one of our donors cares about most. Every charity has at least 2-4 areas that they focus on and most donors only care about the specifics of 1 or 2 of them. And yet most organizations send a periodic update on all the activities in a blanket newsletter sent to all donors and prospects. We can do better.

Engagement Fundraising

E-gagment

MajorGiftsNow™ marries the Science of Engagement to the Art of Relationship Fundraising to help you secure Major Gifts & Legacy Gifts more quickly, in larger amounts, and with happier donors for your not-for-profit.

The Science of Relationship Building

Relationships take time, but the process can be accelerated. In his book, The Like Switch: Attracting and Winning People Over,  former behavioral analyst for the FBI Dr. Jack Schafer details the processes of building relationships and trust. (Development happens at the speed of trust!)

The foundation on which Schafer’s theory rests is what he calls “the friendship formula,” the four necessary steps to the development of a relationship: proximity, frequency, duration, and intensity.

MajorGiftsNow marries the Science of Engagement to the Art of Relationship Fundraising to help you secure Major Gifts & Legacy Gifts more quickly, in larger amounts, and with happier donors for your not-for-profit.

The Art of Relationship Fundraising

Since long before the principles of Relationship Fundraising were outlined by Ken Burnett in his book of that name in 1992, development professionals have been connecting personally with their donors.

Through the development of the relationship, the professionals brought the donors closer, involved them in the work, and engaged them in helping to improve the world.

In practice, we development professionals create proximity and frequency by just being in the room, at our own events and meetings or at the events of others. Duration and intensity usually come from spending time in meetings or face-to-face with the donor. Those personal meetings are the heart of major gift development in which time together and conversations about the donor’s values and how they are in line with the work of the charity lead to “the right ask.” (the right person, asking the right prospect, for the right amount, for the right project, at the right time, in the right way.)

Duration and intensity, where the real work begins, comes from spending time in meetings or face-to-face with the donor. Those personal meetings are the heart of major gift development in which time together and conversations about the donor’s values and how they are in line with the work of the charity lead to “the right ask.” (the right person asking the right prospect for the right amount for the right project at the right time in the right way.)

As the 21st century brought a paradigm shift in communications, it became possible to deepen relationships through frequency and duration without actually being with the other person. We’ve all refined the idea of clipping an article that might be of interest to a donor and mailing it to her into emailing a link with a short “thought of you when I saw this” note. And how many times have we texted back and forth with a child or dear friend?

The Science of Engagement

Just as there is an art to relationship fundraising, there is a science to engagement. As it sought to transform its work to stay relevant as our communications paradigms shifted, PR firm Weber Shandwick commissioned a study by scientific experts in the fields of neuroscience, psychology and anthropology to understand the mechanics, biology, chemistry and physics of engagement. The Science of Engagement outlined 10 principles and 19 component elements of engagement.

The Principles include reciprocity, the importance of immediacy, the marrying of experience and expectation, and the clear distinction between capturing and building engagement.

How amazing would it be if you could not only ensure regular connection with your donors who seek to be engaged the most, offering them information and opportunities to interact but if you could automate that process and ensure that the messages are connected to what your donors care about most?

That day has arrived. Welcome to e-gagement™ with MajorGiftsNow.

Not only is it amazing. It is a tested and proven system so effective we are comfortable offering a bold, and even a little crazy, Guarantee that you will have a minimum 20 times return on your investment.

Engagement Fundraising, Relationship Fundraising, The Science of Fundraising