Do Your Donors Know How Much They Mean to You?

26 Jan Do Your Donors Know How Much They Mean to You?

27 January 2026

By David Allen, Development for Conservation

Several weeks ago, I wrote about Stay Interviews. The basic idea is that employees are more likely to stay longer when the organization makes it clear in words and actions that it wants them to.

I’ve been thinking this a lot, because the basic idea applies to donors as well as employees. So, I read with interest one of Mark Philips recent Substack posts. In it, he quotes from a book by Harold Seymore who is quoting from American anthropologist and social psychiatrist, Dr. Dorothea C. Leighton.

Every individual needs to feel that he is “a worthwhile member of a worthwhile group.”

Seymour continues: “And when you read that simple and wonderful phrase over a few times and reflect about it, you begin to sense how fundamental it is and how universally applicable.”

Indeed.

Start substituting words like “valued” or “important” for the word “worthwhile,” and “community” or “family” for the word “group,” and you start seeing how simply and wonderfully it applies to fundraising as well.

Not to mention “employee,” “volunteer,” or “donor” for the word “individual.”

I was formally employed by one group or another for about 25 years. I can remember one time when someone made it clear that they wanted me to stay. The feeling was amazing. (There were several occasions when someone made it clear they wanted me to leave.)

So, let’s translate it more directly. Do your donors feel amazing? Do you communicate clearly that you want them to stay? That they are important members of an important group? How would you even do that?

I think the first step would be to recognize organizational donors as an important audience for your communications. This audience needs messaging and media that helps them understand clearly that their gifts were valued. That they made a difference. That they are an important part of an important group. They need to understand this directly, but they also need to understand it through the stories you tell – that you use to show them how important they are.

That you use to show them that you want them to stay (give again).

Please understand that this is an imperative that is independent of scale. I’m talking about major gift donors to be sure. But I’m also talking about ALL donors, regardless of how many zeroes their gifts have.

Frankly, I don’t see this very often. I see communications that informs and educates. I see communications that give people tools for engagement – trail maps, event invitations, volunteer activity logistics. I see communications that apply equally to donors and non-donors alike.

Try it yourself. As an exercise, print out a few relevant webpages from your site and spread them out on a conference table. Print or similarly display your most recent newsletters, annual reports, solicitation and thank you letters, social media posts, and anything else that you use to communicate with the public. How many of those pieces are aimed specifically at donors? Do the pieces communicate directly and through stories that their gifts were valued, that they made a difference, and that they are a worthwhile part of a worthwhile group?

Mark Philips makes a few suggestions that are worth considering (I’m paraphrasing):

• Use thank you messages (written, emailed, and phoned) to recognize what donors actually contribute to the work, not just what they paid. Use stories to show them specifically what their membership enables.
• Give your supporters a way to recognize each other – include lists of donors giving at the same level (donor circles) in solicitation and renewal messages, distribute logo stickers or window clings in solicitation letters, ask member participants at public events to wear a sticker identifying them as members during the event.
• Invest in your organizational brand and protect it. Resist impulses to change your name, your service territory, or even your most visible programs and projects. Philips says it better than I can: Donors join organizations that feel enduring and trustworthy. The organizations with the highest donor retention aren’t the ones with the trendiest logos or the cleverest campaigns. They’re the ones that understand their brand is a promise of what you stand for and who you’ll always be. I would think this goes double for land trust organizations whose promise is perpetuity itself.

YOU are an important and valued member of this important and valuable land conservation community.

I want you to stay, and I hope you do.

Cheers and Have a Good Week!

-da

PS: Your comments on these posts are welcomed and warmly requested. If you have not posted a comment before, or if you are using a new email address, please know that there may be a delay in seeing your posted comment. That’s my SPAM defense at work. I approve all comments as soon as I am able during the day.

Photo by Willfried Wende courtesy Pixabay