Sarah Sims, CFRE

Some days donor relations metrics can feel like a mystery…and quite possibly the death of us. Everyone is asking, What do we track? How do we track it? Where do we get the information? What does our leadership want to see? It’s an overwhelming and nebulous task. But it doesn’t have to be! You already have all the tools you need to be a super sleuth and to solve the mystery – you just need to look at it with a variety of angles. Join us as we explore what key metrics we should be developing and how to let them drive our strategy for engagement and fundraising success.

Learn how you can apply strategy to your donor relations efforts that will positively affect donor retention rates as well as steward some of our more “at risk” donor populations. This is more important than ever as our industry sees declines in overall giving, staff and resources may be limited, and we must tie our donor relations efforts directly to the fundraising bottom line. We will explore strategies to explore retention in key populations, segmentation and messaging best practices, and shifting the organizational culture to a donor-centered retention mindset.

The lights are fading, the party is almost over, the goal has been met…your campaign is coming to a close. Your development officer and leadership teams may be starting to breath deep, but now it’s our time to shine – it’s time for donor relations, stewardship, engagement, events, and communications to take the stage and breathe life into all that has been accomplished through your massive fundraising accomplishment. Join the team as we explore to role of these teams in effectively recognizing donors to the campaign at all levels, reporting the impact of funds raised, stewarding new funds, consolidating and converting events as necessary, and more. We will explore key data reports to be pulling, important annual communications to be issuing, and how to develop retention strategy for these important donors. It’s now our job to retain and these campaign donors – until the next big party!

By far, one of the most challenging areas of our work is determining legality standards in the gift agreements that govern our philanthropic gifts. Is it legal? Is it possible? Is it practical? Chances are, the answer is in a gray area, or at least requires a legal or financial judgement call. Of which, we are not typically lawyers or accountants, but we serve on the front lines of these conversations. The good news is that you are not alone and many organizations struggle with determining the legal, possible, and practical status of their fund purposes. The bad news is that it doesn’t make it any easier and doesn’t take away any of the liability of your organization may be facing if you are administering funds not in compliance with IRS or federal regulation, or against the court of public opinion (otherwise known as potentially really bad PR). Join this webinar for an overview of what constitutes legal, possible, and practical in your gift agreements, how to bring your development partners along in these critical conversations, and how to course correct these issues if they currently exist in your gift documentation.​

Our volunteers can be great champions!  They can open doors!  They even pick up the tab!  But involving them and managing them take time and effort.  During this interactive session we will show you how getting your volunteer involved is a fantastic stewardship opportunity and discus how to fully utilize your volunteers in ways that are mutually beneficial. 

Sometimes we have to feed a large crowd. We have finite resources, both in staff and budgets, and we have to strategize ways to satiate many donors with different interests and needs. By developing a program based on donor behaviors, in lieu of arbitrary giving amounts, we can ensure we are communicating gratitude and impact to donors at all levels of giving. This webinar will assist you in identifying priority donor behaviors you need to reinforce, personal communications to these groups, and strategy development to increase donor retention. Everyone gets a slice.

Are your recognition societies getting stale like cookies that have sat out too long? Are they cumbersome to implement and lacking in engagement and ROI? Well it’s time to rethink the traditional society construct. This webinar will explore how organizations are reshaping their recognition framework to create meaningful experiences that drive affinity and communicate impact – everything from tiers, benefits, events and communications geared towards the modern donor.

Endowment reporting can become a beast. It often becomes an all-consuming task that sucks time, resources and ROI from your team. As organizational endowments grow and the number of funds, complexity of agreements, and demand for impact reporting increase exponentially, your donor relations and stewardship teams must develop creative and efficient ways to slay to the beast. Join us as we explore how to evaluate your endowment reporting process and develop tiering mechanisms to ensure you are putting your resources where they matter….and your donor remains the knight in shining armor.

You have the basics down pat...acknowledgments, fund stewardship, and reporting are all well in hand. But what are we doing to connect and engage with our top donors as individuals, on a customized basis? How do you use donor relations and individual engagement plans to strategically move and deepen the relationship? "Surprise and Delight" is a term coined by development consultant Susan Washburn to describe the little, unexpected ways to engage with your donors - leading to great dividends. Join us as we explore ways in which to not only strategize and execute these plans, but also view some of the innovative and ingenious surprise and delight moments being implemented across the country.