Join Yourself

25 Aug Join Yourself

In my workshops and seminars, I talk a lot about experiencing the land trust business for yourself. What’s it like to actually be there and see, touch, smell, hear, and feel. Don’t just report what someone else has told you about how things work. Go experience it yourself. Replace your ability to narrate in the third person with an ability to testify in the first person.

So with that in mind, I respectfully suggest that you join the organization you support.

Fundraiser’s Almanac: August

• Take a Hike!
• Saturation Mail
• Membership Drives
• Join Yourself

Fundraiser’s Almanac: September

• Handwritten Letters
• Getting the Most from Your Fundraising Events
• Good News
• Filing/Data Entry
• Lapsed Member Letters

But don’t just stop by the office and drop off a check or hand one to the Treasurer at a board meeting. Use the opportunity to test the systems out. Send a check in one of the standard mailing envelopes. Donate on-line. Try the monthly donation program with a credit card. Or send a check in a plain envelope.

And then track what happens and report back to the organization what it’s like from the donor perspective.

• How long was it between when you sent the check and when you received an acknowledgement?
• Did you get a phone call, or a special acknowledgement, perhaps because of the size of your gift or because you were a board member?
• How long was it before you received something else from the organization – a welcome packet, a newsletter, an e-news or other electronic alert, or…?

Now compare this experience to the “customer service” you receive from other organizations you support. How does your land trust stack up? What are you doing particularly well? What is someone else doing that you could emulate?

And use your experience to make appropriate adjustments and work toward becoming more donor-centered.

What are you doing to become more donor-centered? What are you doing to change your perspective from third person to first-person?

Cheers,

-da

Photo courtesy of Grandon Harris.

Find out how David can help you with your membership fundraising here.