Hi, everybody out there in Webinar Land. It's so nice to be with you today. I am Sue Rescigno and I'm Ron Rescigno and we're here to talk to you today about that all important second gift, all important being the key words there. Exact. So who are we and why are we up here talking to you about this? Ron and I own Rescignos Fundraising Professionals and we have been in fundraising for over 30 years. Actually, it's like 31 years. We have a team of professionals that work with us that help our clients with their annual fund and major gift programs. What we do is our services include fundraising, consultation with strategy and planning. We help with copywriting, editing, graphic design, data analytics, and we actually do the digital print and mail of all the annual fund communiques. So that's a lot of any donor communications is actually what we do and write it in-house. Exactly. And so that was one of the reasons why we wanted to do this webinar today is because we think it's so important that you pay attention to what's going on with your donors if they're giving that second gift. And so many times people are looking at that and we think that's vitally important. So so let's talk a little bit more about this. What we're going to talk about today is some of your stewards shift tactics that actually build dollar retention and long term relationships. That's what it's all about, right? When we talk about retention, it's about the long term relationships and and why that second gifts are the true number one indicator of lifetime value of your donor. That's so important about the lifetime value on what the donor is going to give to you over years and years. And that's what we want to help you do today. And we're going to talk about examples of strong communications that lead to more second gifts. Yeah. And the fact that once you get that first gift, it's what you do. Then right away after that gift is received, it becomes so critical. Exactly. Exactly. So let's first start and talk about gift strategies. We kind of want to lay some basic fundamentals down here first, and then we're going to go into the steps of getting that second guess. So it's very true that all gifts strategies basically are the same. And there is a what I call a cycle to this particular for what you do after you get that first gift. And that is okay in the appeal, for example, you ask for the gift, it comes in, you acknowledge it, you acknowledge the receipt of the gift, and you thank the donor both warmly and promptly for sending it in. Then after you thank them. It's very important that you report back to the donor and the impact that the gift is having or will have. And the person who was in the story from which the gift was received. So the story is about little Sammy and his need for a wheelchair. For example, you want to refer back to the fact that your gift helped to get little Sammy that wheelchair or is helping to do so. You and then you ask again, It's very important and we'll go into the psychology behind when you should be making that second ask. And the fact is that getting the second gift is the single biggest factor. As Sue alluded to a little bit ago, affecting both your donor retention rates and the lifetime value of any particular donor. So so did you know I mean, this is why we think it's so important. Did you know that only 20% of new donors ever give to the same organization again? So that means when you get that donation, what you do after that is so critical. But then once they do give again, they become 63% more likely to give a year, year three year, four, year five. So it's that second gift that is vital, important to the whole process of turning that donor into a lifetime donor. And, you know, so we work with several community colleges throughout the country. And when we talk with other community colleges about their first time donor retention rates, oftentimes they don't know what those retention rates are. And if you don't know what you're how many donors you're turning over to become a consistent, reliable, loyal donors, you're constantly kind of spinning your wheels because you see that you're you always are going to be losing donors. So you definitely want to take a look at that within your own departments to see where you're at. And what we like to say here is that it's what you say and what you do after receiving a first gift that determines what the donors relationship is going to be with you. In other words, let me put it this way You should put as much thought and as much effort into how you respond after you receive that first gift as you did in making in in the appeal that you sent out. You should your your thank you. For example, should be just as powerful, just as personal, just as emotional as the letter itself in the solicitation appeal was absolutely. So now what we'd like to do is we're going to start on the six steps. Right. And how to get that second gift. Now, this just makes perfect sense, right? You've all been in fundraising for a little while. The acknowledgment process. Okay. The acknowledgment process should happen 48 to 72 hours after that first gift. And we're going to talk a little bit about the acknowledgment process. But I want to share with you this story, because I think it's very appropriate right now. Okay. We work with a large organization in the city of Chicago. It's an animal welfare organization. And they came to us and they asked us if we could help them find new donors. They wanted to work on acquisition. Okay. And they were they said we're we're getting these new donors, but then we're losing them. Well, we sat down and we talked with them. And when we when we meet with our clients, we always ask them, what are your retention rates? How are you retaining these donors? And when we sat down with them and we went through, we found out that they had hired an organization to do their acknowledgment letters. They hadn't sent out acknowledgment letters in six months, complete madness. Complete. Oh, my gosh, You spend so much time to get these donors you just like granted, you have to spend just as much time, if not more, on the acknowledgment process. So we just think this is this one that happened and we talked with that client. We now actually handler development program. So that's not happening anymore. And they're keeping many, many of their donors. And if you think of it this way, you've all probably seen the image of the leaky bucket where there's a water going into this bucket. But because of all the holes in the bucket, as quickly as the water goes in, the water is coming out of several holes in the bucket so quickly that it can never be replenished. And that is the dilemma that so many nonprofits are facing, is that because they don't have a good acknowledgment process, a good process for thanking donors, which we will talk about next, they're constantly spending money on donor acquisition. Both are important, by the way. So thanking the donor, it is so important that you make them feel welcome and appreciated and important and informed. And the the ideal acknowledged should, of course, address the donor personally. Dear first name not your friend, not the donor, not dear alum, dear first name. We want to create relationships. That's one of the first ways to do that. And what you want to do then is tell them what important thing they help to achieve through their gift. It's not about what you are going. You, the organization, you, the community college are going to do because of their gift. It's what their gift is going to allow you to do. Be specific as specific as you can about the impact and make sure that the impact you report and as I said a little bit ago, is what you were asking for in the appeal that you sent out and got the gift from. And most importantly, I would say we read these thank you letters. Often you've got to say thank you and you've got to say it more than once, in my opinion, to to truly express your appreciation, your gratitude. Say thank you. You cannot say it often enough as our our reference to Schitt's Creek here. I hope you all enjoyed that. Okay. Let's talk about the next step in the process, which is the communication plan. Okay. Once you receive these donors, these new brand new donors, you you need to convince that donor to keep giving. You want them to believe in your mission. You want to teach them more about your mission, communicating with them. I always say that you should take make sure that you take your new donors and you want to put them on your communication plan. What you are already currently doing, whether that be your email newsletters, your direct mail invites to events you want to get these people engaged. It's very important. And of course use on phone, call them and say thank you. Use committee members or volunteer hours to call and say thank you. And remember that, you know, first time donors, we like to say, are really suspects. When you get them to give that second gift, that's when they become true donors. Bridging that gap between the first gifts, turning them from a suspect to a real donor is the challenge that we're trying to address here. Right. So the next step is you want to describe that impact to those donors and how do you do that? You can do that in several ways, and you should do that in several ways. For example, by sending an annual report to them or an impact report shorter version of an annual report by sending a donor centered or focused newsletters or even a video update on how donor support is helping you help others in one. And when we say that about like a video update, we have many clients to do that and they don't spend a lot of money on the videos at all. They use their iPhones and they have somebody and our staff, they just record it for them. We had one of our clients did it during the pandemic. We tried many clients do it, but he had done such a good job of just giving a heartfelt thanks on video and then sent it out to all the donors. It's an amazing tactic and you should try to include that with your phone calls and your letters and your newsletters. And when we say to give your new donors additional information about the story, they've responded to what we're talking about. There is maybe invitations to special events. They don't have to be anything fancy or expensive just a tour of the campus. For example, a chat with the president or the CEO is something that really draws the people who are truly interested in your college in because they want to hear from the leadership and it makes them feel part of the in crowd, for example. Right. So step four then is you need to inspire these new donors to give again. And how do you do that? Connect with donors as personally as possible. And this is a very critical point to this whole presentation. You want to connect with them personally within the first 2 to 3 weeks of receiving that gift. So the thank you is the first step. It's what, if you think of it in terms of a drip, drip communication, these different communication touches that you do over over the next few weeks, 2 to 3 weeks, you can do that by asking the donor for feedback or advice on a particular issue or what they think about it. They should send a welcome check through the mail. This is one of the things we help many community colleges and other nonprofits do is is create these welcomes and welcome Kids can be something very simple, almost looks like a greeting card and basically says welcome to the family or for lapsed donors, welcome back to the family. And inside you might have your mission. And then you have a nice little greeting that says, thank you so much. And you put a little note in there and inside you try to put an engagement page, something something like a list of the of the events that will be happening or volunteer opportunities. We've had organizations do bookmark parks, things like that. So but but it's just a simple card that goes to all the new donors or the reengage donors. That's a really good point about engaged. And that's what this whole thing about, is the more you can engage these new donors in in your mission, in joining your organization's mission, its cause, the better off you will be. And the last point here again is to thank the donor. Every opportunity you get, you should be thanking the donor. It's right. Okay. So step five is you need to build trust with these donors. That's so important. They're not going to continue giving to you unless they trust that you are being good stewards of their money, that they believe in your mission. These are things that you can do to build that trust and the way you built. One of the ways you build that trust is based on a promise that you make to do good with the money you give them, and then you prove to them that that is in fact how you did spend the money that they gave you. And you showed donors what's in it for them. What is the impact, not that you can make, but that they can make in helping other people. And by being consistent in your communications. Can I just hear around that? But I think it's so important consistency as we help organize nations build their programs. Consistency is so important that and because that's what creates the habit of giving exactly right. And the important thing here, again, is doing all of these things is what number three is all about. It helps you to invest in building personal relationships with these donors. And again, we cannot repeat this so often enough. Instead of using the word thank you, here's though, just to vary it up, we're using the word express your gratitude for their association with you through their through the gift that they send. And what I want to add here, too, is we understand that some of you might be in smaller shops and you can't do all of these things for all of the donors. So create yourselves some scenarios. This is what we're going to do for those who give $100 and less. This is what we're going to do for those who give 101 to 500. And so on. There are certain things you're going to do for those that give larger dollar amounts, of course, that you can't do for all of the donors. But remember, like personalized notes and those phone calls, those those work really well in getting that second gift. And then once you get that second gift, you're more 63% more likely to get that third and fourth and fifth guest. So what happens now that the last step in the process is to ask for that second gift again in a timely fashion? Yeah, it's very interesting to me that recency how recently a donor gave seems to be the key, but it's only the key if you have done the necessary steps that lead up to the asking of the second gifts. Donors who make the second gift within the first three months of the first year, believe it or not, have a 987% higher average value over a five year period than a donor who gives once and we call this three month period between receipt of the gift and the end of the three month period, those 90 days or thereabouts, we call it a honeymoon period between you, the organization, the community college and the donor. And it's what you do. And what we've been talking about throughout this webinar. It's what you do during that time that leads to being the proper time. And you need to be asking them right around that 90 day period for the next gift. So let's, let's end with feeling gratitude and that expressing it is like wrapping a gift and not giving it right away. Good gratitude is what it's all about. Expressing that gratitude is what your donors are waiting for, especially your high end. Don't exactly test you. Yes, right, Right. So we hope that you enjoyed this one minute webinar. We hope that you're walking away with a few new ideas. We really appreciated our time with you today. If there's anything that you would like to continue the conversation to discuss any of this, this is our contact information. We are very happy to be working with Case to do this for you. So we hope you have a wonderful day and we hope to see many of you at the Community College Conference in Palm Springs in October. Absolutely. Thank you for your time.

donor retention rates

long-term relationships

effective communication

stewardship tactics

fundraising consultation

copywriting