Over the past several weeks I’ve been reviewing our client’s quarterly results. They are stunning, both for major gifts and mid-level.
Today, however, I want to focus on mid-level because not only are the results amazing, but the stories coming from our Client Experience Leaders who coach mid-level officers tell me that donors want human interaction from you.
This is not an anti-AI blog post. I’m pro-AI and relationship fundraising. Anything that can enhance the ability for a mid or major gift fundraiser to spend more time in front of donors, developing relationships, I’m all for.
But what is true about the value of a relationship-focused, mid-level program is that for the first time, donors start recognizing a shift or change in how they are being communicated with by you and the organization they support, and they are responding generously.
Here is what I mean. Typically, a donor is acquired through some type of transactional type of fundraising strategy. The organization is trying to cast as wide a net as they can to reach potential donors. Once acquired, a good non-profit does their best to cultivate them as cost-effectively as possible, while trying to retain them.
Every good direct-response agency knows how to do this properly. There is a science to doing this. However, some non-profits get stuck as donors start giving larger gifts and more frequent gifts. They don’t change the strategy of how they first acquired and cultivated them. You will often hear me say, “you are still cultivating a $1,000 a year donor like you do a $25 a year donor.”
And, if you have a high volume of donors, you can get away with cultivating these higher dollar donors like that for a while…until you start to see diminishing retention rates, higher value attrition and less overall engagement.
And, while most organizations have a robust acquisition, transactional, cultivation strategy and some kind of major gift program, many organizations are missing an opportunity by not having a relationship focused mid-level program.
I stress “relationship focused” here, because I often hear from organizations that they do indeed have a mid-level program only to find out it’s essentially an enhanced direct-response program for donors who give at higher levels.
We have been working with organizations developing mid-level programs for well over a decade. We know what works. I’m not bragging here, we know what works because we’ve made a lot of mistakes over the years, have tried many tactics and strategies, and we know what it takes to build a relationship focused mid-level program.
Getting back to those results I’ve been seeing…when a mid-level program is constructed properly, meaning it has the right structure, the right mid-level rep, the proper coaching and support by the organization, we consistently see higher retention rates, higher revenue per donor and more donors (about 3 times as many) move into major gift portfolios already qualified.
This equates to substantial revenue growth for the organization.
Now, why did I say that a mid-level program changes the relationship with the donor? Because for the first time in many cases donors are hearing from a human from the organization they care about. When that happens, giving goes up dramatically.
We inevitably see donors double, or triple their giving just because someone reached out to them either through a phone call, e-mail or personal letter letting them know someone is taking the time to get to know them.
A mid-level program with a mid-level officer, is signaling to the donor that THEY matter so much, you want to make a human-to-human connection. The donor then feels known and you see the relationship change.
Basically, the mid-level program is the bridge between a transactional relationship to a transformational relationship.
And once that connection is established, donors deepen their engagement, gain trust of the organization’s mission and move into major gift portfolios giving significant major gifts or planned gifts.
If you are wondering if investing in a mid-level program is something your organization should consider…the answer is YES and NOW is the time!
Jeff