We're well into the era when a majority of fundraisers would say they believe in being "donor centric."
That's a good thing.
But I don't think we've yet started the era where a majority of fundraisers actually are donor centric.
Two reasons:
- Being donor centric is easier said than done.
- A lot of people have no idea what it actually means to be donor centric.
Here's help from The Agitator: Donor-Centric or Faux Donor-Centric? Check the Plumbing.
Here's The Agitator's list of things that can tell you whether you're Donor-Centric or Faux Donor-Centric:
- Do staff and consultant performance reviews include contributions made to advancing donor satisfaction, retention and responsiveness?
- Are donor service personnel properly trained, recognized and compensated within the organization?
- Do donor-facing personnel participate in discussions around creating donor experiences?
- Are all departments aware of and focused on the same donor retention, commitment and satisfaction goals?
- Do the board and CEO routinely participate in reviews of donor retention and commitment rates?
- Does leadership place more emphasis and importance on current donors than potential donors?
- Do the organization have methods for seeking donor feedback, responding quickly to donor concerns and sharing these concerns across departments and with leadership?
- Is the organization willing to change or adapt processes to meet donor concerns based on feedback?
- Does the organization have a true focus on donor needs and a process for meeting those needs?
- Does the organization follow basic practices to maintain and update donor addresses and remove deceased donors’ names and addresses?
- A leadership and management culture willing to have its own assumptions challenged and tested through input and feedback from donors?
- Investing more in making functions work more simply and easily for the donor as opposed to working for the convenience of the organization?
- Providing easy-to-find contact information and feedback channels that are responsive and easy to use by the donor?
Yep. It's hard work. But it's the only viable way to succeed at fundraising.