The end of a relationship is sad, and oftentimes, startlingly sudden. When one person cuts things off, the other is left in a daze. They wonder how things went so wrong and what they could have done earlier to avoid this.
Though this is true for many relationships, it also generalizes the charity-donor relationship. In this case, rejection is a one-sided affair. Donors don’t continue their financial giving or may terminate their volunteer efforts. Naturally, the reasons behind these relationship endings are of interest to charitable organizations. To inform your donor relations, consider the reasons donors stop giving and how to preemptively address them.
Poor Donor Communication
The first and biggest factor is poor communication with a donor. It’s vital that charities build donor trust, but failure to communicate at certain points compromises that goal. Not thanking donors upon receipt of their initial or latest gift leaves a bad taste in their mouth, perhaps suggesting your organization doesn’t need them.
The times when donors approach you with questions are even more important to get right. If donors have a concern about how giving works or where their money goes, you want to answer them in a way that leaves them feeling more secure than before they contacted you. That means investing time into talking with donors and following up with them as soon as possible.
Donors Forget Your Charity
Another reason donors stop giving is they simply forget about you. While this end to the relationship stings, it’s not surprising. Even if you send out periodic emails to them, they may receive other messages that crowd yours out. This is why you need to keep donors engaged in creative ways.
Utilizing social media gives you another avenue to boost visibility. Ideally, donors will read and share your creative content far and wide. However, you will often need more tangible means of keeping up with donors. While they may only be financial partners, make appeals for simple volunteering opportunities. Giving them any sort of in-person exposure to your organization will help their overall longevity with you.
Death
This last reason isn’t necessarily a rejection, but there’s still just cause to note it. A notable portion of people pass away while they are still supporting your organization. While this eventuality is unfortunate, there are means of preparing for it and allocating funds to your charity accordingly. You must not push this on anyone due to the awkwardness of the subject, but let donors know there is an option to write your organization into their will. This allows them to feel that, even in death, they will be serving a higher purpose.
