How to Earn an A+ on Your Donor Report Cards

If your donors were grading your fundraising efforts and their experience with your nonprofit, what sort of grade would they give you?

(Hint: It’s not all about getting straight A’s, but it’s about doing the best you can. For more on this, see the end of this post.)

6 Areas to Earn an A+ on Your Donor Report Cards

Simply pushing yourself to do your very best is often good enough. But knowing where to focus your attention and where there’s room for improvement can only help. Here are six aspects to consider in terms of what donors are likely to be evaluating.

1. Website usability

When people land on your website, do they know where to go and what you do? Do text and photos tell a story? Can they easily find what they’re looking for?

You can do some unofficial usability testing by asking 5 donors to go on your site and provide feedback. Of course, don’t make drastic changes simply because one person says so, but use their feedback to have thoughtful discussion with your team about improvements you might make. There are often some major insights to be gained from just a couple of quick tests.

2. Ease of donating

How easy is it to make a gift online? Do donors have to fill out pages of information or scroll far down a page to make a gift?

If you haven’t gone online to donate to your own organization in a while, do so now. Is it as easy as it should be? If there are any issues or surprises, address them ASAP.

3. Regular communication

How do you communicate with donors? Specifically, think about donor communications as they apply to your:

• programs;
• services;
• volunteer opportunities;
• and impact.

Do you provide a variety of media including videos, online and physical communication? And are you happy with the volume and quality of your donor communications?

Consider donors at the top and bottom of your pyramid — are they receiving the same publications and outreach? What can you do to improve overall donor communications?

4. Cultivation activities

Do you engage with donors in a personal and meaningful way? With key donors, do you know why they care and why they might consider giving more? Do you know what they do for fun and what causes they care about?

Conduct a quick survey of 100 donors to ask them what might encourage them to get more involved. Then pick 10 to speak with individually about why they are engaged with your organization.

5. Stewardship efforts

Are donors thanked in meaningful and unique ways? Do they know that they are valued as a partner and a donor of your organization. Do they know why their gifts matter or that they’re personally making a difference?

1. How do you thank your donors? What could you improve?
2. What do you do best in terms of thanking donors and how can you enhance that?
3. What are you doing that’s taking too much time or isn’t effective?

6. Solicitation experience

After donors make a gift, how do they feel? Do they wake up feeling excited to have helped, or do they feel regretful and like they were guilted into making a gift?

Identify a few donors at all levels to ask how it feels when you ask for a gift. What would they prefer? Ask them to be specific about their experience giving to your organization versus another charity. What do they like best? Least?

Put Forth Your Best Effort and Top Grades Will Follow

Just like I tell my kids, it’s not straight A’s that matter. It’s the effort you make that matters most. It’s okay to have B’s or even C’s in some areas — as long as you’re working hard and striving to do well.

If you don’t think you’re currently getting an A in every area, ask yourself:

• What can you do to improve your grades?
• Are you satisfied with the effort you and your organization are putting in?
• What more could you be doing, or what might you do differently?

Remember — it’s not about getting a slate of perfect A’s. Just strive to do the best you can. If you can sleep well at night, so will your donors (and so will I).