Strengthening donor relationships: The key to fundraising success
Back in high school when I was just learning Spanish, they taught us vocabulary through popular “dichos”, or sayings. At the time, it seemed silly to spend hours creating a 3-D representation of our chosen saying, but I have to say: those words stuck! If I ever forget Spanish (unlikely because I work with organizations in Spanish about half the time and my partner is Mexican, but you never know), I would bet money I will never forget the phrase “Un pájaro en la mano vale 100 volando” (English version: a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush). The relationship I built with those words, as I literally built birds and bushes out of clay during a week in high school, gave them power.
Similarly in fundraising: the relationships are what give your fundraising power. While grants and one-off donations provide vital support, sustainable funding comes from long-term relationships that are nurtured and cultivated over time. Don´t believe me?
Why donor relationships matter
Too often, the NGOs and nonprofits I work with are focused on acquiring new donors and fail to invest the time and resources needed to retain those who have already given. This is a costly mistake. Research shows that nearly 70% of first-time donors do not make a second gift. Yet your current donors are the most likely to be the one to give you your next gift. I mean hey, they already know you and obviously care about the work you are doing!
Building strong donor relationships goes far beyond simply securing a check. It’s about creating a relationship where the donor feels like more than a walking ATM— they feel like a valued partner. By building and nurturing this kind of relationship with your existing donors, you can significantly increase your chances of securing recurring support.
Plus, a well-established donor relationship can lead to more than just repeat donations. It´s your current funders who you can most easily turn to for introductions to other funders, volunteerism, in-kind donations and… drum roll… bigger and less restricted donations. Some of the most successful nonprofit grant writers I’ve worked with have multiplied their grant funding many times over by building relationships with their funders and then asking for introductions to other aligned foundations.
What is donor-centered fundraising?
Building and maintaining these relationships doesn’t happen by accident. It requires thoughtful strategy, consistent communication, and a genuine desire to partner with donors in creating lasting change. In this blog post, we’ll explore the importance of donor relationships, how to implement donor-centered fundraising, and then how to leverage those relationships to bring in new donors.
Donor-centered fundraising is an approach that puts the donor at the heart of your fundraising efforts. Instead of focusing solely on your organization’s needs, it’s about understanding and speaking to the donor's motivations, interests, and values. By aligning your requests with what matters most to the donor, you create a partnership where both parties feel invested in the success of the mission.
Here are some key elements of donor-centered fundraising:
Having the Mindset: You are not begging for money. You are bringing your unique local presence, know-how, and team and the donor is bringing their money. With your forces combined, you can achieve the change you both dream of. You are each bringing something unique to the table.
Understanding Donor Goals: The next step in donor-centered fundraising is getting to know what drives your donors. Are they passionate about education? Do they want to support environmental sustainability? Are they motivated by a personal connection to your cause? By understanding their motivations, you can tailor your funding requests to align with their interests. (To be clear, I am not saying you should do whatever the donor wants. I am saying you should identify where your priorities overlap and then speak to those areas, making it less about you and more about them.)
Building Trust: Trust is the foundation of any strong donor relationship. You don´t need to send them an itemized budget for a project (in fact, you shouldn´t, as that opens the door to them micromanaging you). But a genuine relationship of transparency, honesty, and consistent communication are key to building trust. Always close the loop by letting a donor know how their contributions are making a real impact. Share updates, provide regular reports, and be open about challenges as well as successes.
How to build and strengthen donor relationships
It´s pretty obvious, but I am just going to say it: strong donor relationships are the result of consistent, thoughtful engagement. Below are some concrete best practices for cultivating and maintaining these important connections:
Decide who on your team is “responsible” for each relationship. Regardless of who is managing the specific program or project each donor is currently supporting, who in your organization is friendly and engaging and has the bandwidth to be the main person holding and having the relationship with each donor? It doesn´t always have to be your executive director—maybe he or she holds the three most transformational donors, and the rest of the donors are divided between your board, Executive team, and development team.
Communicate Regularly: Donors want to hear from you more than just when you’re asking for money. Keep them updated on your organization’s progress, the impact of their support, and any new initiatives. A monthly newsletter, a personalized 1-paragraph email update every quarter (if you missed my masterclass on what should be in this email, watch the recording here!), and a phone call once a year can go a long way in keeping them engaged.
Personalize Your Engagement: Every donor is unique, so your communication with them should be too. This not only reaches them where they are at but also shows that you value them as an individual. For example, if you know a donor is particularly interested in one aspect of your work, when you send out a newsletter on that topic forward it to them personally (even if they are already on that mailing list) and add a personal note letting them know you wanted to make sure they saw that piece in particular. If a donor is an expert in the area of your project, have a conversation with them before the project is fully designed, so you can get their insights—this builds the relationship outside of the dynamic of the financial transaction.
Communicate Transparently: If your organization is facing challenges or if a project is behind schedule, be upfront about the challenge and share how your team is going the extra mile to fix it (if that´s true, of course).
Express Genuine Gratitude: Your parents probably taught you to say thank you, and this is not the moment to forget it. Yes it is courtesy, and it’s also an opportunity to deepen your connection. Personalized thank-you notes, phone calls, or small tokens of appreciation can go a long way in showing donors that their support is valued. Make sure you express gratitude for their contribution not just once, but consistently over time. Some of this can be led by an assistant and you just give an email a final once over and click send, or just hop on the 10-minute donor thank you call your assistant set up.
Follow Up on Commitments: If you’ve promised a donor an update, a report, or any follow-up action, be sure to deliver. Following through on commitments builds trust and reinforces your organization’s reliability. I know, you have a LOT going on, and things can slip through the cracks, so put it on your calendar or make it the responsibility of an assistant or intern to make sure the date stays top of mind.
Leveraging your donor relationships to bring in new donors
One of the most overlooked aspects of fundraising is leveraging your existing donor relationships to expand your network. Donors always know other philanthropists, grant makers, or companies, and some of them might be interested in your work. This is why follow-up and ongoing engagement are so critical—it keeps your organization top of mind when your donors come across new opportunities for you.
In a recent Funded with Ease session, we discussed the power of asking for introductions. For example, after a successful update or check-in with a donor, ask if they know any other funders who might be excited about supporting your work. Often, a simple introduction can lead to a new grant.
Here’s how you can make this strategy work for you:
Be Specific: When asking for an introduction, be clear about what kind of funder or partner you are seeking. This helps the donor quickly identify potential connections.
Make It Easy: Offer to provide a blurb about your organization that the donor can use to introduce you (in the Funded with Ease intensive we work on what should be in that blurb to make a donor want to say “yes” to a call with you. Grab initial pointers over on my recent blog post.) The easier you make it for the person making the intro, the more likely they are to actually make it.
Systems for managing donor relationships
Building strong donor relationships requires more than just intentions and best practices— it also requires good systems. A well-organized system helps you track interactions, follow-up actions, and key dates like birthdays, ensuring you stay on top of your donor-centered fundraising efforts.
For smaller organizations, a simple Excel spreadsheet can be an effective way to manage donor relationships. Key fields in your spreadsheet might include:
Donor name and contact information
Donation history
Interests and philanthropic goals
Dates of last communication
Next steps and follow-up reminders
Larger organizations may benefit from using a donor database or CRM platform (like GiveButter if you are focused on individual donors, or like Notion or Trello if you are focused on institutional donors). These tools allow for more robust tracking, segmentation, and analysis of donor data. Regardless of the size of your organization, the key is to have a system in place that helps you stay organized and on top of your donor communications, and generally the simpler and easy to use the system is, the better.
Donor-centered fundraising in action
At Social Impact Compass, we’ve seen how donor-centered fundraising can turn a single grant into many grants, each of them larger than the original one. One of our clients, a mid-sized NGO in Central America, brought in a grant that for them was small. But that foundation then introduced them to 3 other foundations, one of which ended up giving a significantly larger grant. This happened because the Executive Director got on the phone with that small donor, connected personally, actively involved her in the organization’s mission, and then continued to stay in touch.
A question to ask yourself
In the nonprofit world, success is not just about securing a one-time donation—it’s about building lasting donor relationships that grow and evolve over time. This will build you loyal supporters who believe in your cause and want to help you succeed. Who fund your mission but also contribute to long-term sustainability and give unrestricted funding.
So I close inviting you to do this thought experiment: If I told you that there were no new donors in the world, that your current donors are the only ones who could donate to your work in the future, what would you do differently?
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