Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. - Empowering your mission, focusing your vision

Is your community foundation communicating effectively with your donors? Are you reaching all of them? Do you know the best method to reach each of your donors? It is important for your community foundation to be donor-centric and to have a two-way relationship with your donors. If we never ask donors what they expect from us, why should we be surprised if they don't donate to us?

While you may be communicating with your donors already through mail, e-mail, social networking, or the newspaper, it is important to know which methods your donors prefer. Your community foundation must use more than one method of communication to reach all of your donors.

There is not one single method that will reach all donors effectively. Figure out who your donor groups are and identify the communication method and style each group prefers. You can go as small as creating a Twitter account and posting tweets to keep your younger donor group informed, or as big as creating a shadow site with social media links and lingo for your younger donor crowd.

In order to communicate effectively with your donors, you must provide statistics, demonstrate trust and accountability, and tell stories about the impact of your community foundation on people's lives. Communicate your message to people by providing them with the number of people they have helped in your community, stories of people they can relate to, pictures of community members they are helping, and use trustworthy people to deliver messages, such as people you have helped.

Do not just communicate with donors when asking for donations. Personalize your communication and keep it relevant to your donors to maintain interest in your community foundation. Be sure to communicate with your donors about the work your community foundation is doing by updating them on projects and current events.

Provide your donors with the opportunity to share their ideas, and incorporate their suggestions into what your community foundation does in the future. Donors want to feel appreciated and listened to. It is important to build a relationship with your donors, as this will strengthen their desire to give and increase their giving amount over time.

To improve communication with your donors, remember these three steps:

1. Use more than one method of communication

2. Choose your methods based on who you are trying to reach, not what you are trying to say

3. Remember to use statistics, stories, and trust and accountability when communicating

Your community foundation can discover the best methods to reach your donors and find out how donors want to be communicated with by conducting a donor survey. By learning which ways your donors would like to be reached, how frequently they want to be contacted, and demographic information such as the age groups of your donors, your communication will exceed donors' expectations, resulting in increased donations.

To learn more about how to improve your communication with donors and increase donations by conducting a donor survey, contact us at (800) 724-9994 or e-mail . We look forward to working with you to improve donor communication and increase giving for your community foundation.