Building Lasting Donor Relationship- Online Giving

Experiences of Seva Mandir, Udaipurwww.sevamandir.org

Critical Premises

•The Program/project up for fund raising is sound, has a relevance, resonates with donors and impact

•The intervening organization needs to have capabilities to prepare regular updates/ reports, and regular internet connectivity

The Online Marketplace

Direct human appeal, simple - clear logic, tangible outputs like children’s education, horticulture, immunization connect with people

Seva Mandir’s project on education and immunization gets more donation as compared to the project on Building self reliant rural communities in India, and Increase profits for 3500 poor farmers in India

Education Community Dev

Connecting with Donors Online

• Give specific measurable goals• Transparent costing• Simple language• Avoid jargon• Supplement with clear pictures showing human

emotion and activity

Advantages of Online Portals

•Provides credibility to donors on behalf of organization (due diligence/reference check visits)•Allows to reconnect with individual well- wishers, friends, ex- volunteers especially those who cannot make large donations but can make small regular donations•Unknown new donors also come who otherwise would not know you•Regularity a key feature•Individuals, unlike institutional donors, do not change with themes and sectoral preferences

•They may also endorse your organization to corporate or other bulk donors•Create additional exciting/fun opportunities for fund raise e.g. competitions/registries•Some Online portals such as GG have simple feedback mechanism where you do not have to track exactly a penny- but report on outputs or outcomes•However, there are others who make it quite complicated where even very small donations such as $ 10 have to be tracked and reported on

Advantages &-------

Reporting, Donor Feedback

• Regularity• Reporting calendar• Personalized reports• A human story• Try variety- short videos, letters • Some other online portals do not have such flexibility in reporting•Updates do lead to more donations-

Communication is key as most donors are strangers, plus create a feel good factor

How??

• Weaving in reporting requirements within the core structure of organization will ensure regularity and consistency

• Calendar is still important • Set up systems to review quality, style and

content of feedback• Senior leadership writing in also adds to

bringing the donor closer• Acknowledge the Donor

Social Media and Staying Connected

• Global Giving Challenges are a great opportunity to boost funds

• Thank Your donors after the challenge irrespective of the result

• Amplify it with more exposure on social media• Social media allows you to stay connected with

your donors Visibility on social media may not lead to more

funds but it helps

Donor Stewardship

• Donors prefer human contact• One person managing donor communications• Strategy for donor acknowledgement when there are many donors

Donor Segmentation• Communication strategies

will differ for regular donors, corporate donors etc

• Online donor segmentation strategy required as well

•Activities which are less donor friendly take a back seat•Risk of giving only simple success stories – takes away the challenges and failures of this work of social change

•Activities which are less donor friendly take a back seat•Risk of giving only simple success stories – takes away the challenges and failures of this work of social change

Challenges

•Online Portals are not just useful for fundraising but also for maintaining relationships with new and existing donors

Conclusion

Thank YouThank You