10 Tips to Better Donor Stewardship!
Bob Thomas – Executive Director of Advancement Marketing and Communications at Michigan State University
Just wanted to share a simple list of 10 things you should be doing in your stewardship program to ensure great donor satisfaction!
- Develop your stewardship “stump speech”
- Map your donor stewardship process to look for weaknesses and opportunities
- Develop a System to get “Personalized” Thank You Letters Out in Less than One Week –Make it Timely
- Refresh Content of Thank You Letters, Segmenting for Donors Giving to Different Programs –Make it Sincere
- Personally Thank a Donor Every Day (More than Good Stewardship, it’s Good for Fundraiser Morale)
- Tier Your Stewardship Where Appropriate: Provide Special Access or Special Privileges for your Top Donors
- Create Ways for your Donors to “Experience” your Organization (easier for some than others)
- Personalize Your Asks –Especially for Donors/Non-Donors
- Continuously Evaluate Your Stewardship Practices
- Don’t be Satisfied Until Your Donors Expectations of You are Exceeded
