Don’t Squander Your Philanthropic Potential

Jim Langley

September 20, 2024

Do you want to know the secret to being a better fundraiser? Segment and tailor your funding requests to your donors’ level of receptivity.

Here’s what that can look like:

The most receptive:

• Living donors who have made estate commitments
• Multiple major gift givers
• Loyal annual givers of 15 years or more
• Volunteers long-engaged in substantive activities (e.g., board membership)
• Highly engaged in events and activities

Moderately receptive:

• Single major gift givers
• Annual donors who have given 6 to 10 years, sometimes intermittently
• Volunteers engaged for 3-5 years in occasional activities
• Occasionally engaged in events and activities

Lightly receptive:

• Two recent and modest commitments
• Attended a few events

Where you would be wrong to assume receptivity to another funding request:

• First-time donors given little or nothing after their first commitment
• Major donors who have not been contacted personally in a year or more
• Someone who volunteered once or twice but never gave
• Someone who attended one event

Where you would be crazy to assume receptivity:

• “Prospects” who have done none of the above

Strategies that work best with each of these cohorts

The highly receptive:

• You can speak to the building blocks of the organization because they are so much a part of it and trust in its ability to convert investment into impact

The moderately receptive:

• Conduct donor satisfaction interviews or survey’s first

The lightly receptive:

• Interview or conduct surveys to see how strongly they believe in your purpose, direction, and leadership; the degree to which they feel they belong; and if they see how their giving has bettered the lives of those you serve.

Unsure of receptivity:

• Interview or conduct surveys asking to which cause or purpose they have been the most pleased and why, what has been their most and least satisfying giving experience, and their receptivity to volunteering.

No indication of receptivity

• Stop calling them prospects
• Don’t put them in portfolios
• Look for other giving experiences as evidence of what they might be receptive to
• Invite them to a substantive event that tracks with previous philanthropic interests

Is this perfect? Hardly, but any effort to segment, experiment, and learn is much better than the spray-and-pray or assuming a “one size appeal fits all.” Segmentation and customization are the beginnings of strategic philanthropic facilitation. Defaulting to the usual unimaginative tactical grind is wasteful and depleting for the organization and those engaged in doing that work, and a good way to continue squandering your philanthropic potential.

Jim Langley is the president of Langley Innovations. Langley Innovations provides a range of services to its clients to help them understand the cultural underpinnings of philanthropy and the psychology of donors, and with that knowledge, to develop the most effective strategies and tactics to build broader and more lasting communities of support. Jim has authored numerous books, including his most recent book, The Future of Fundraising: Adapting to New Philanthropic Realities, published by Academic Impressions in 2020. 

Related Resources:

• Webinar: 4-Step Process for “Reimagining Fundraising Operations”
• The Power of Building Relationships: Why Donors Need Good Fundraisers
• The Way You Fundraise Matters
• Why what you do is called ADVANCEMENT
• Fundraising’s Worst Oversimplification

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