Presentation stewardship compass

							Effective Donor
Stewardship

   Calgary Compass 2012
   May 16, 2012

   Sally Flintoft, CEO
   Calgary Health Trust
What is meaningful and impactful stewardship?

•   Personalized
•   Carefully managed
•   Tells a story
•   Further engages the donor
•   Authentic
•   Timely
                     Most important: Be Creative and Unique

                Donors want to see and feel the impact of their contributions
                          and know they’ve made a difference.
Why is it important?

•   Makes the organization accountable – donors need to know that their gifts are being used
    as intended
•   Engages the donor and builds a relationship of trust
•   Motivates donors
•   Meaningful stewardship leads to the next (and often) bigger gift
•   Good stewardship is cultivation!
•   Stewardship = decreased attrition = increased fundraising revenue

              It costs less to keep your current donors than acquiring new ones.
Creating a Culture

•   Good donor stewardship is the responsibility of everyone in the organization.
•   The stewardship team will coordinate and provide tools, but it must be engrained in the
    culture of the organization.
•   Multiple touches – CEO, development officer, volunteer, beneficiary

•   Involve all staff in making thank-you phone calls
•   Involve all staff in signing thank you cards for certain donors or occasions
•   Research how other charities respond to a donation and share these results with your staff
    to build awareness
•   Social Media

                           Stewardship is an organizational priority.
Donor Matrix

•   Donor matrix – simply a guide.
•   Every donor is different and will want or expect their gift to be recognized differently.

                                           Ask them?
                         How they would like their gift to be recognized?
Examples

•   Donor Walls
•   Naming Opportunities
•   Clubs and Societies – cumulative giving
•   New donor packages
•   Loyal donor lecture series
•   Phone calls
•   Thank you letters from recipients of staff education funding
•   Video / DVD
•   Personal meetings
•   Birthday / Holiday cards
•   Bound copy of research for long-term endowment donors
•   Private dinners – include their family and close contacts

                                 What does your donor want?
Individualized Stewardship Reports

•   Used for major donors or programs who have received a large volume of donations
Hand Delivery of Receipts and Reports

•   Planned Giving Officer
•   Major Gift Officers
•   CEO
•   Coordination of task
•   Feedback received
Tracking

•   Weekly reports run by Donor Relations on major gifts received and open actions
•   Ensure that processes are in place so that smaller donations do not fall through the cracks,
    then focus attention on being creative with larger donations
•   Follow-up with the relationship manager or gift solicitor to assist in gift recognition and to
    create a stewardship plan for that donor
Using Your Imagination

•   Once the processes are in place to ensure that no donor “falls through the cracks” then you
    are free to use your imagination when stewarding major gift donors
•   Encourage staff to think outside the box, present unique ideas that are meaningful to their
    individual donors, make it creative!

         Meaningful and creative stewardship does NOT have to cost a lot of money!
Difficulties

•   ensure funds are spent as intended in a timely manner by the appropriate programs
•   ensure stewardship programs can be maintained through staff turnover and transition
Other Thoughts

•   Do you survey your donors?
•   Can you link your donor to the beneficiary?