There’s something I’ve noticed in the donor relations world that’s keeping me up at night. It’s this persistent, quietly toxic belief that being in a service-oriented role somehow means we should settle. Settle for being reactive. Settle for being overlooked. Settle for “good enough.” As if donor relations were a soft science: nice to have, not need to have. As if our work doesn’t require the same rigor, strategy, and innovation as any other core function of a nonprofit. Let
Annual impact reports are common—annual impact reports that make thousands of donors feel like they personally belong in the story are not. That's exactly what Colorado State University accomplished with its 2025 Impact Report. Rather than treating the report as a year-end obligation, the advancement team transformed it into a comprehensive stewardship campaign that reached donors across multiple channels, personalized messaging by audience, and reinforced one simple truth: e
There’s a hard truth in donor relations that we don’t talk about enough: Most donor experience problems are not people problems. They’re process problems. Your donors are probably not upset because your staff doesn’t care. They’re most likely upset because: The thank-you letter arrived six weeks late. Their name was misspelled for the third time. They received three appeals before one stewardship report. No one noticed they stopped engaging months ago. The event invitation we
Recognition societies are a hotly debated topic in fundraising circles, including among those of us at DRG. Our recent Pulse of Donor Relations highlighted this debate: for the first time in years, we saw an uptick in practitioners who believe recognition societies are effective. Even so, the question remains: to society? Or not to society? Data from the 2025 Pulse of Donor Relations Report I have seen recognition societies work beautifully. The organizations who get it right
