Google “Do Focus Groups Really Work” and read what a number of people think, many of them professional business leaders. You will find that there is some pretty impressive opinion that they don’t work.
It is easy for someone to give an opinion about a product, a service, a non-profit program, strategy or idea. It’s quite another thing to actually part with some money.
In fact, a product development manager once told me that if you are creating a new product, you have to start with 1,200 ideas to get down to 5-7 that will go into development, and 2 to market-test to finally find the 1 product that people will actually buy. Notice that success is determined by what product people will actually buy – what the person does, rather than what they say.
That is why Jeff and I believe that the best way to know what a donor really thinks about what you are doing is whether that donor will actually support it financially. Money has a way of sorting out the truth and telling you what a donor actually thinks.
So should you spend time and money doing surveys with donors? There’s a lot of good information that can be secured from a survey. But if you ask a donor about mailing or contact frequency – how often you should be in touch – the answer will be that your contact with the donor should be less frequent, not more.
Now, is that answer really true? It could be. But if you have a program to present to the donor that matches her passions and interests, believe me, the donor will want to connect more frequently rather than less. If she is not interested, she will want less contact. The point here is that a donor is never going to support something that does not appeal to her passions and interests. It is not about frequency, or approach, or the event content, or anything else.
So the next time you want your caseload donor’s opinion about something, don’t call them up and ask what they think. Ask them to support it, and see what they DO. You’ll get to your answer a lot faster. (Tweet it!)
Also, think about this. You already know a lot more than you think. And there is a lot of wisdom out in the marketplace about so many topics. Use that collective wisdom – yours and other people’s – to draw conclusions. Then ask you donor to support it financially. You will find the answer you are looking for.
Richard
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Interesting post – as always. I DO think however that the old adage “Ask for advice and you’ll get money; ask for money and you’ll get advice” is often true. We’ve had great success inviting small groups of donors to meet with our CEO and others in the organization to ask for opinions and advice about specific initiatives or potential funding opportunities. In one case, we had 4 separate groups of 6-10 donors attend focus group sessions around developing our Cornerstone Society – our post -building campaign sustaining giving program. Every single participant joined as a charter member and the program has been wildly successful. We are just past the inaugural year mark and not only have we raised more than $7 million from 250+ donors, we have already seen increases in membership level among the early joiners. And of course, we always ask them if we can have their permission to come to them during their membership period (3 years, 5 years or ongoing) with projects that we think might be of interest. Every one of them has eagerly said yes.
Thanks for always having thought-provoking content.