Best Practice in Campaign Stewardship

Transcription

1 Best Practice in Campaign Stewardship Original Date: October, 2017 Revision Date: Originally Prepared By: Carrie Casper, Meredith Hancks Revised By: Category: Donor Relations and Stewardship Comments To: (please include the Name of Practice, above, in the subject line) Description of Practice: This best practice takes a look at the major components to consider when drafting a comprehensive campaign stewardship plan. Prospective Users of Practice: Frontline fundraisers Donor Relations & Stewardship Professionals Organizational Leaders (CEO, Executive Directors, VPs, etc.) Volunteers

2 Issue Addressed: How you steward thank your donors on a continuous basis is directly related to the success of your current campaign and your future fundraising initiatives. Successful stewardship of one gift is part of the giving cycle representing the cultivation for the next one, so it is vital to have a good plan in place. Lack of meaningful stewardship of your donor relationships can negatively impact your organization s success. Desired Outcome: This best practice will identify the questions and components you need to consider when creating your own stewardship plan for a comprehensive campaign. Process: Create a Customized Stewardship Plan for your Entire Campaign Identify or Create Giving Societies: Identify what stewardship levels / options are already in place at your organization: in many cases, the framework exists but people have not used it consistently or may not even know of its existence o Do you have specific levels for annual, major, planned, and lifetime giving levels? o Do all staff members know what these levels are, and how donors reach them? o Do your high-level donors have quick recognition of what it means to be part of each level? Identify goals and objectives for engaging donors at each level throughout the campaign o Segment your donors into reasonable groups for similar customized stewardship, for example: Up to $10,000 Lifetime $10,000 + Lifetime Custom (single gifts of $10,000+) o Number of touches annually and overall from foundation/development staff and/or organizational leadership o What specific touch points entail (donor events, handwritten notes, personal visits, phone calls, etc.) o Who will be responsible for each of these touch points

3 For each donor who fits in your Custom category, design a specific stewardship plan with their name on it, and specific activities that will take place throughout the campaign for stewarding them. Identify where you will store stewardship plans and activities in your database, and create specific process documents to make sure everyone knows where to store them and what gets included. Create a set of reports that will be distributed for various purposes: o Annual summary o Individual receipt / summary for individual donor o By category o Board Reports o Tracking of donor stewardship touches Essential Components of a Stewardship Plan: Leverage Giving Societies: Once you have identified (or created) your giving societies, you can begin crafting a plan to use them to help donors decide where they see their own name. This is often used in personal solicitations for major gifts, where a fundraiser might present a list of giving levels and ask the donor Where do you see yourself on this list? as a way to guide the conversation. Arrange Visible Displays: Many donors like to see their name in lights when they have made substantial gifts to an organization. Determine what type of donor wall makes the most sense for your organization. Sometimes they are permanent structures and other times are computerized visuals that can be changed at any time. The best choice is the one that makes the most sense for the work you do and the donors you steward. Remember that some donors do not want to see their name attached to anything, and build in ways to be respectful of that choice as well. o Location: where will the display be most visible to the most number of people? o Style: What style makes sense to your organization? Permanent names in a table/chart? Updateable computerized displays that flash on a wall or floor? Names arranged alphabetically but as different size/bold to indicate gift levels? Putting name plates on buildings/rooms/furniture/etc. is also a good way to thank donors for various levels of giving. o Updates: You need to make sure your plan includes the length of time a donor name will be there. Perpetuity can get you into challenges in the future, when you need to have another naming opportunity to raise funds for maintenance or renovations to the structures. Some institutions will sell naming rights to a stadium or other building for a defined period of 20 years so that they have the option to rename later when the needs arise.

4 Communicate Donor Stories: telling donor stories is a great way to keep current donors engaged, and get potential donors excited about opportunties to give; it can also create a common thread to weave throughout your campaign. Your stories can take place in many forums: o Newsletters o s o Updateable stories flashed up on a screen (think of what you might see at a museum exhibit) o Social media stories o All campaign communications should include stories in some form from donor perspective and from the perspective of those your organization serves Plan Donor Stewardship / Engagement Events o Ribbon cutting o Ground-breaking o Campaign launch celebration & Campaign finale celebration o Space / equipment dedication o Create specialized gifts for donors at various levels that are meaningful thank yous for donors Photo albums Framed photo with name plate Handwritten notes (note that your plan should include language for which signature(s) are used for various levels of giving) o Annual or biennial thank-you events Plan flexibility: not all donors will want to be stewarded the same way; make sure you have enough flexibility in your plans to engage with donors the way they wish to engage with your organization. AASP Recommendation: Whether you are planning for a comprehensive, multi-year campaign or annual stewardship, you need to spend time planning out how you will engage various levels of donors within your organization. This best practice talks about some of the necessary components of creating that strategic plan for stewarding donors, and should be customized to meet your particular needs. Sample Policies & Procedures:

5 AASP would love to see your sample stewardship plans here! Please send to to have them included.