By Solving The Acquisition Problem Are You Creating Retention Problems?
By Solving The Acquisition Problem Are You Creating Retention Problems? This is another good question you may not have asked yourself but it is work considering. Donor acquisition is one of the hardest things to do in the fundraising world which is why we spend so much time, energy and money to solve that problem. In the last months, it has been made clear that we have some significant retention problems and maybe that’s not as easy as we thought or assumed. My theory is that they are linked (how you acquire with how you retain). Here’s why.
1. NOT ENOUGH RESOURCES TO GO AROUND
Fundraising is hard. Running nonprofit organizations is hard. Doing those things on limited budgets is extremely difficult and there are not enough resources to go around. So resources are allocated to the hard problems or “sexy” metrics for boards like growth and new donors but it often comes at the expense of a retention program or focus on retention. Keeping donors around and engaged may be less resource heavy than acquisition but it still requires time, attention and intention. If you can’t fight the fundraising battle on all fronts, choose the most important battle for your organization to fight and understand the casualties that will result (PS. fight the retention battle).
2. OVER SELL, UNDER DELIVER
Making promises on the impact a donation will have and not following through on that erodes trust. The more specific you are with the offer on the front end, the more specific you need to be on the back-end in “closing the loop”. In the world of charity: water’s, Kiva’s and others where giving feels so tangible and direct, many other charities have tried to jump in and provide those giving opportunities as well. Only they often lack the programmatic follow through and follow-up. This is not a new concept. Fundraising catalogues and child sponsorship programs have been very successful using this type of approach but as technology increases, charities become more professionalized and there is more skepticism towards charity the requirements of a charity on the back-end are also increasing. If you aren’t having an impact then you’re not helping anyone. If you’re not proving your impact (which, for the record, is more difficult than people may think) then you can’t sell on impact and specifics. Because even if you acquire donor by over selling, you will lose them when you inevitably under deliver. The only way to have more success marketing vague impact is to improve the specificity of your impact, not just increase the specificity of your marketing and fundraising appeals.
3. NOT CONSIDERING THE POWER OF DONOR CHOICE
Do you think you’re the only organization doing what you’re doing? Are you really THAT different from the others? Are you actually any better at producing results? Can you prove it? Donors have a choice with what they give, when they give and who they give it to. We often make assumptions in the fundraising world that once they give to us their “ours” and the main battle has been won. In some cases that is true but more often than not we have to keep fighting for their support, for their trust. Because they have a choice. Ignore this powerful fact at your own peril.
4. GIMMICKS OVER SUBSTANCE
Premiums. Matching funds. Celebrity endorsements. Cool events. Great videos. TV ads. Online ads. These are not inherently bad things (although you could make a good case that premiums are…). But without a great story, proven results and a simple/transparent way for people to access those stories and proven results, they are simply window dressing. Lipstick on a pig. And if you can get donors in, when they dig around, kick the tires and push on some statements they can quickly see it’s often a load of crap. The worst part is, these organizations are generally good and not crap at all. They fall prey to over-selling but rely too much on gimmicks to get them through and don’t spend the time to look hard in the mirror and find their story and prove their impact. A donor base built on gimmicks is sure to crumble when times get tough.
Acquisition has always been a problem for charities and fundraisers to solve. As we’ve spent more and more time focusing on that problem we’ve created new problems in the way of retention. So as you think about how to grow and expand, reach new donors and acquire new funding sources, and you need to, make sure you think about what effect it will have on keeping those people around should you get them.
