Six fundraising takeaways from a year of blogs and podcasts

In 2015, with over 150 posts, the Ruffalo Noel Levitz and ScaleFunder blogs were hopping, and we also started a new podcast. I took a look back at the last year, and here are few big themes that repeated throughout the year:

Big donors don’t grow on trees: This year, we released important research about the annual gift to major and planned gift pipeline. In a study of eight higher education institutions, we found that 75 percent of donors who have $25,000 or more made smaller gifts for at least 11 years before making their major gift. Loyalty and consistency have a big impact on your annual revenue—and they absolutely amplify future big donations. Check out this blog post, and read the white paper to find out more.

The plan’s the thing: One of our most popular features is the “Five Ways” series by consultant Chris Hughes. He’s offered insights on everything from increasing email response, to connecting with high net worth families, to leveraging reunions. The consistent theme is that reaching success with any of these important fundraising efforts is to plan, and take it one step at a time. Check out the great contributions from Chris, which are excellent “how to” guides that you can use immediately.

Stewardship matters: While we’re all working hard to ask donors, thanking them is just as important. Stewardship provides not just an opportunity to reward donors, but also talk about the real impact of their giving. This was a consistent theme at RuffaloCON15, and Josh Robertson and the team also put out some great information about how thanking donors can leader to greater renewals and higher gifts.

Recruitment, retention, and motivation of student fundraisers is important to building your phonathon program. We published the results of the largest-ever survey of student callers, and also offered strategies on interviewing and motivating callers. Just like your professional fundraising staff, your student callers are an army of gift officers ready to engage donors with a quality, personalized appeal. Learning about how students can become motivated, expert fundraisers at your institution is worth the investment. And, as we found out in a recent interview with a student at Appalachian State University, they may be your best ambassadors.

Personalization, responsiveness and cross-channel synergy are the wave of the future. Technology is rapidly transforming fundraising and donors. You need to leverage your best data resources to personalize solicitations and reach donors. Responsive solicitations that involve a conversation, like phonathon and crowdfunding really help break through the constant barrage of messages coming at our donors. And we are learning every day that it takes more than one channel to attract and keep a donor–most donors are swapping channels or using two or more to make a gift. This means that mail, email, your online giving portal and your phonathon will all work together to make gifts possible.

The sky’s the limit. From a rapidly fundraising vocabulary, to record-setting giving day results, to great experiments on donor response, there is a lot to be excited about in the fundraising field. We can expect that philanthropic investment is going to continue to increase in the coming years, but it’s our job to stay ahead of the latest developments and connect with donors in a way that shows impact. It’s never been more exciting and challenging to be a fundraiser.

The blogging team here at RNL is looking forward to another great year in 2016, and thanks for joining us. If you have an idea for a blog or podcast, drop us a line and we’ll get right on it.

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