Dear Kim Q&A Column ArchiveAugust 2004
Tips on Calling Lapsed Donors
Dear Kim,
I am on the Board of a local arts organization. We noticed that a
disturbing number of people who formerly made annual contributions to
the organization didn't give us any money this year. I volunteered to
call each of our former donors to figure out why they are no longer
financial supporters and to get information about their attitude toward
the organization and advice on how we can improve. Do you have any
suggestions for how I should open the conversation and for questions I
should ask? Any other tips on how to perform this task?
—Please Don't Say This Is the End
Dear Steps,
I am really glad that you are taking the initiative to call your
lapsed donors, learn why they have stopped giving you money, and invite
them back into the fold. Your actions are pro-active and show the
donors that you value their contribution. Many organizations just let
their donors go, which can give them the message that their support
wasn't all that important in the first place.
You need to figure out one thing before you start calling. When
you
say "a disturbing number of people...didn't give us money this year",
do
you mean over 33%? Many people are surprised to learn that you should
expect about 1/3 of your donors not to renew from one year to the next.
This is called your "attrition rate." Be sure you have figured this
out
before you think you have a serious problem. It is important to keep
track of your attrition rate so that you know how many new donors you
need to recruit every year just to keep your donor base the same size.
As for tips about making these calls:
1) Identify yourself right away as a volunteer board member.
2) Be prepared for people to be wary, abrupt, curt, rushed, and to
sound disappointed when you say who you are. Take none of this
personally. Some people will actually be pleased that you took the time
to call and hear what they think about your organization.
3) Decide what you are going to do when you get voice mail. I
would suggest hanging up the first time and leaving a message the
second
time. (Obviously, you will need to figure out ahead of time what
message you are going to leave.)
4) You will probably be able to get at least 10% of the donors to
renew. Mostly you will be leaving messages, finding out that numbers
have been disconnected or finding out that the donor has lost their job
or gone through some other life change that precludes them from giving
right now. You may want to offer unemployed people some way to stay
involved in your organization until they get on their feet.
5) If people are critical of your organization, just listen and
get
as much information as you can. If it is easy to straighten out a
misunderstanding, then do that, but don't argue with them.
—Kim
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