#regulargiving

One of the parts of my job that I love the most is getting to thank people for their donation. There is such a buzz as a fundraiser when you get a donation in and I love passing that back to a donor in my thank you letter. 

I am a big fan of a really personal thank you and for almost all the thank yous I do at school I tend to do a handwritten postcard. I admit I have the luxury of a relatively small number to do, clearly if you are receiving 100s of donations a week handwritten cards is not practical. But I like it because a card is something someone is more likely to keep, it will sit on the mantlepiece or get stuck to the fridge. I like the idea that every time they see it they are reminded that they give and how great that feels. 

Everyone knows how important stewardship of donors is. Regular givers are a group that can often get forgotten, you send them a thank you when they first set up their gift, but then what?  

We have recently sent a thank you card to all our regular givers, whether they have given for two months or 20 years. For our top regular givers who have given for the longest or given the most, we sent a personalised thank you and invited them to an event. I have six regular givers coming to a dinner next week out of the 44 I invited. I am really pleased that I am going to get the opportunity to get to know them a bit and once again thank them for their support. 

New Year is often a time for reflection as well as looking forward. In the run-up to Christmas and since coming back into the office I have been working on our annual report. At every organisation I have worked for, the annual report/annual accounts are a fantastic tool to shout about what your organisation is doing well as well as talking about your plans for the future. Here the annual report is a fairly meaty affair. It focuses on five stories written by a guest editor. The theme this year is ‘sustainability’ which I think rather conveniently reflects the main aim I have for our regular giving programme.

Regular giving on its own doesn’t always raise huge sums of money. Particularly when compared to our very successful major donor programme. A regular giving programme does, however, have the potential to provide a sustainable source of income to your organisation. Currently, our regular givers collectively donate the equivalent of four full bursaries a year, their impact is significant and provides a stable and sustainable source of income to the school. 

Looking forward to 2020 we are embracing a brand new kind of fundraising, our first giving week. Next week, I have the first planning meeting with the agency we are working with, and so I have been looking at what we want to achieve. The main focus for us is new donors. Although our regular giving programme is established, there is definitely room to grow, only 25% of our active records have ever given, only 11% have ever given regularly and only 2% are current active regular givers. 

So I went to the CASE regular giving conference last week. It was a great two days of learning with lots of helpful takeaways. I thought I would highlight just a few. 

Slightly strangely one of the talks that had the biggest impact on my thinking was one that has made me decide not to do something. As with any fundraising team, we have limited resources and we can’t do everything. One of the presentations was about Global Regular Giving and how to decide whether you should start a regular giving in a particular country. 

It made me realise that although it might seem like there is untapped potential in a particular geographic area or fundraising channel, you need to consider a whole range of factors. Sometimes the reason you aren’t currently doing something is that it actually isn’t worth the time and energy, and that is ok. Taking the time to consider something new in the context of your whole fundraising plan is really important. 

My second favourite talk was about the donor journey, It all seems very obvious stuff but it is good to refocus the mind. Mapping out the touchpoints you have with a donor throughout the year can make sure you are asking them at the best possible time when they are feeling warmest towards your organisation. Using different channels and making sure you have different donor journeys dependent on the contact details and various opt-outs someone has.