RELATIONSHIPS FOR LIFE with Patricia Castanha of Creative - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

STEWARDSHIP: CREATING RELATIONSHIPS FOR LIFE

with Patricia Castanha of Creative Consulting London

Creative Partnerships Australia acknowledges Australian’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live, learn and work. We pay our respect to their Elders, both past and present, and to our shared future.

OUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

WELCOME and AGENDA

TIME ITEM 9:30am Arrival and coffee 10:00 – 11:20 Welcome and presentation 11:20 – 11:30 Morning tea break 11:30 – 12:30 Presentation 12:30 – 1:15 Lunch 1:15pm – 2:30 Presentation 2:30 – 2:40 Afternoon tea 2:40 – 4:00 Presentation 4:00pm Conclude

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO GET FROM TODAY?

Expressions Dance Company (QLD), supported through Plus1 2017-18

AIMS

Today is designed to help you… ►Understand the goals of stewardship ►Be reminded of the elements of effective stewardship ►Review and refresh organisation-wide stewardship strategy ►Consolidate stewardship for more effective fundraising

What is stewardship? The effort of any non-profit organisation which seeks and receives philanthropic support to ensure donors experience high-quality interactions that foster long-term engagement and investment.

STEWARDSHIP

Why is stewardship important? ►What is the potential of stewardship? ►Why can it be so powerful and have such impact? ►It is easy to focus hard on finding new donors ►But don’t let stewardship become an afterthought ►Effective stewardship turns first-time supporters into loyal / recurring donors

STEWARDSHIP

GOALS OF A STEWARDSHIP STRATEGY

►Solidify relationships with existing donors ►Generate new insights for your prospect research ►Whether for repeat donations from existing donors or new supporters ►Learn as much about them as possible ►So you can… solidify relationships ►As you can see, we’re already developing the concept of a virtuous circle, which we’ll continue to develop today

►What would you change or add to what we’ve just discussed? ►Do you think stewardship is the same for major gift and lower-level fundraising?

GOALS OF A STEWARDSHIP STRATEGY

Let’s go back a bit…and remember the ‘Seven Steps’ But first - are there in fact seven steps? I manage to come up with eight and someone I know only has five! Who is going to start us off?

SEVEN STEPS OF FUNDRAISING

Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (NT), supported by Plus1 2016-17

IDENTIFY potential supporters RESEARCH capacity, interest, personal connections PLAN cultivation and solicitation steps INVOLVE carry out cultivation plan (meetings, visits, etc) ASK decide who, when, where, amount, project CLOSE finalise the gift, deal with practical arrangements, ie tax, instalments, etc THANK i) formal / legal acknowledgement and ii) from anyone within the organisation who means something to the donor STEWARD keep involved until time to make the next ask

SEVEN STEPS OF FUNDRAISING

WHY DONORS GIVE

►Belief in the cause ►Being a catalyst for change ►Duty and responsibility ►Because of who asks ►Self-actualisation ►To forge enjoyable / beneficial relationships for themselves

WHY DONORS GIVE

Enjoyable and beneficial relationships ►Fun, enjoyment ►Personal / professional fulfilment of connections with a range of people ►The satisfaction of personal development ►Applying expertise in a different sector ►Learning new skills ►Directing money which might otherwise go to the government ►Addressing causes with a personal connection ►Defining a place in history

WHY DONORS GIVE

►Many donors make careful checks before they commit and what they find can influence a decision, eg: ▪ Size of the charity ▪ Perceived or actual quality of leadership ▪ Levels of expenditure on fundraising or aspects of administration ►Communications ►Appreciation ►Recognition ►Having a say / influencing governance Are these the crucial elements of a donor / recipient relationship, to foster successful development of a sustained commitment to the

• rganisation?

THE STEWARDSHIP CYCLE

Acquiring donors Identifying the critical few

Learning about them Telling your story Developing a relationship Engaging and involving Preparing to ask Asking and closing Documenting and saying thank you Accountability

What could the “seven steps of stewardship” look like?

• 1. Plan (getting ready, across the organisation, at every donor level)
• 2. Ask (create opportunities to move donors to the next level of

support)

• 3. Activate and involve (thank, recognise, report and inform)
• 4. Identify and research (seeking opportunities to be strategic)
• 5. Ask (create opportunities to move donors to the next level of

support)

• 6. Activate and involve (thank, recognise, report and inform)
• 7. Review

WHEN DOES A STEWARDSHIP PROGRAMME BEGIN?

STEWARDSHIP IS SIMPLE

As you review or develop your stewardship strategy: ►Understand and use your donor data effectively ► Make it easy for donors to leverage the impact of their gifts ►Thank them for all they do – this is the essence of what we will be talking about today ►So what are the measures of success?

Acknowledgement

►Phone call ►Email ►Handwritten note

BASICS OF DONOR CARE

CASE STUDY - NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA OF GREAT BRITAIN

NYO won “Best Supporter Experience” award at the UK’s Institute of Fundraising 2019 National Fundraising Awards ►Their campaign, “Turning talent into brilliance” created a sense of romance that donors responded to ►Acquisition was themed around this phrase ►Stewardship centred on the honest truth that Because of you ... we have a National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain

Nicolette Shaw, Development Director, says:

Our ambitions remain high. Our stewardship programme needs to be the biggest and best programme in the sector. We should become known for the very best donor care and exemplary supporter experience. We will know each and every one of our donors and why they care about us. We will constantly ask ourselves if we can be doing more and if we can bring more to our donors. We opened up the lid on everything that we did as an organisation and invited our donors

• in. Many donors joined us on residencies and met our musicians. They told us that our

approach had been sophisticated, appropriate and welcoming. We set ourselves a rulebook that we would never break.

CASE STUDY

GROUP DISCUSSION

• 1. What actions do you do, or can you do, to deliver stewardship aims like those of

NYO?

• 2. Do those actions work for everyone, or only if your organisation is large / small?
• 3. What are your barriers to best practice in stewardship

►Feed back to us

NYO’S STEWARDSHIP PROTOCOL

►No thank you letter is signed by a computer – all are hand signed ►All thank you letters go out within a set period of time ►The young musicians hand write postcards to new donors above a certain level ►All requests to unsubscribe are handled within a day ►Any donor who complains is telephoned (if they have given us permission to do so) ►All new donors are incorporated into our existing schemes ►We improved our news emails ►Many of our new donors don’t immediately supply an email address, so we added a twice-yearly newsletter that demonstrated how their money was being put to use

IS IT THE SAME FOR ALL?

Is there a significant difference in the way you thank a donor based on their giving history? ►First time donor ►Mid-level giver ►Long term supporter ►Major gift But for all: be sure that the acknowledgement is prompt!

ADMIN…

In other words - gift management and tracking ►Where your gifts are coming from? ►Are you allocating them in the way the donor requested? ►Can you report on them simply, clearly and accurately? ►Embrace constant research and data management, at all levels ►Don’t forget ethical record keeping ►Who can share examples of really effective tools, templates, software?

RECORD-KEEPING IS CRUCIAL

MORE ADMIN…

It’s also about tracking myriad on-going contact points with your supporters and “soft” information ►When does x need a report ►What format do they want it in ►What was discussed in your last phone conversation ►What did they say to your board member when they bumped into each other at another event

RECORD-KEEPING IS CRUCIAL

MOVES MANAGEMENT

MOVES MANAGEMENT

Typically, moves management has five stages

• 1. Identify: through prospect research, introductions from board members / volunteers,
• r because they’ve given a small amount
• 2. Qualify: this is where research comes in – how many of you research every new

supporter when they first give?

• 3. Cultivate!
• 4. Solicit: plan when and how
• 5. Stewardship: thank them for their support and the impact, steward them until it is

time for the next solicitation

MOVES MANAGEMENT

Implementing Moves Management ►Get organised! ►Use your database to code and track supporters and their stages in the cycle – upgrade

• r disqualify them as necessary / appropriate

►Focus on the top 20% of donors: the Pareto Principle applies – the top 20% of donors are probably responsible for 80% of revenue and make up the bulk of your moves management focus ►Create a calendar of cultivation moves: each prospect will have a unique strategy – and for “prospect” read also “current donor being stewarded to move up the giving ladder” ►Be consistent: sit down weekly or monthly with your team, executive director, or trustees and review each prospect / donors and the plan for moving them to the next level

MOVES MANAGEMENT

Success with Moves Management ►Probably have donors in your database with the capacity and interest to give more ►Start by interrogating your donor base and creating a portfolio of 25 to 50 donor / prospects to steward ►Ultimately develop into an organic structure with a personalised experience for each donor, leading to larger gifts (and a more robust donor base)

MOVES MANAGEMENT

Embrace complexity: once in place strategies operate with little effort, becoming the norm ►Good stewardship can achieve multiple outcomes across the organisation ►Go the extra mile in your planning, think in advance and put in place: ►Multi-levelled stewardship, tailored to encourage donors at one level to move to the next donor level ►Unique / bespoke strategies based on the resources available ►Practical activities leading to specific desired outcomes ►Events that connect donors to specific areas of interest, with an opportunity enhance their support ►95% planning and 5% asking!

CASE STUDY

►Donor giving random amounts each year since 2003 ►But not connecting ►Finally in 2016 came to an event and the DD engaged ►Gifts increased ►Introduced to CEO, always greeted at concerts ►Came to season launch in January 2020, sent £200,000

THANKING AND STEWARDING

►What happens immediately? ►A mix of formal / practical and “ warm and fluffy” ►Terms and conditions: theirs and yours ►Donors may seek respect for that expertise and appreciation for the giving of time which is involved in philanthropy

REPORTING

►Formal reporting to institutional donors ►Reporting to individuals ►Qualitative ►Quantitative ►Celebrate the accomplishments with your donors ►Keep it simple but do it at least once a year!

REPORTING – a couple of examples of templates

DONORS HAVING A SAY

Having a say ►How the gift is allocated ►A desire to pass on expertise as well as money ►Exerting influence can also be seen as protecting the family name ►Influencing governance?

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?

What does this mean for you? ►Work to address interests and concerns of donors ►Avoid adopting a standard approach ►Involve (high level) supporters in the work of the organisation ►Address legitimate concerns about governance and accountability ►Get board members and senior staff involved in fundraising and stewardship

ROLES – WHOSE JOB IS IT?

Who does what? ►Is it clear whose role it is to do each of the tasks associated with your stewardship plan? ►maybe there’s only one of you in the fundraising team! ►but if there are more… ►and what about the others in the charity?

CASE STUDY

►This is about stewarding to leverage a bigger gift ►About involving other in the organisation apart form the fundraiser ►But it’s also about recognising that everyone is different – both the donors and the fundraisers! – and there is no perfect text-book approach, no one size fits all strategy ►And it takes time – there’s no such thing as instant gratification in this business?

CASE STUDY

Waiting and not asking… ►First conversation: interested but the timing wasn’t good (2001) ►Stewarding began: spoke to him often, at performances ►About two years later, ask and £20,000 donation (2003 / 4) ►Stewarding continued, CEO became involved ►Donor’s company sponsored and donor also supported concerts ►In 2008, ceo and DD joint ask: received £125,000 for major building appeal and endowment ►And donor upgraded his annual membership

CASE STUDY

►This donor felt valued: he was listened to and effectively made clear when he was ready to be asked ►When he was asked there was a campaign with a clear focus and target ►The introduction to the CEO and his involvement was important

What are the different roles in fundraising and stewardship? The fundraiser is:

By the way, not necessarily the one who asks for the donation…

ROLES – THE FUNDRAISER

expert mentor advocate trainer

ROLES – OTHERS IN THE ORGANISATION

What about in the organisation as a whole? ►Fundraiser/s ►CEO ►Artistic director ►Other staff – front of house, box office… ►Board members

Marie-Hélène Osterweil, Development Director, says: Key to building a donor base has been reinforcing that Wigmore Hall is a charity, together with defining the need and the part the audience can play. We have been very mindful that we need buy-in from all the staff too – so we have consistently worked to ensure they understand key messages. Many are front line and need to know how to deal with customer / donors and with queries / comments about any campaign. What I look for is an army of fundraisers – basically anyone who works at Wigmore needs to accept (comfortably) that they are a fundraiser too…

CASE STUDY – WIGMORE HALL

GROUP DISCUSSION

►Think about how you might address this within your own organisations ►How could you engage and involve box office, front of house, café and other staff who come into daily contact with supporters? ►What do they need to know and do, to help the fundraising and stewardship effort?

CASE STUDY – WIGMORE HALL

Wigmore Hall protocol ►When there is an appeal, staff are briefed at an all-staff meeting ►Staff have first sight of all printed material, so they can have a good read in anticipation

• f a campaign

►Before any major event (i.e. season launch) the DD does an all-staff briefing ►DD also periodically briefs ushers / catering staff so they understand the importance of events ►Staff are often given specific roles at events. Their main guidelines are: look out for people on their own, or a couple standing alone, move them around the room, introduce to others, make them feel welcome ►Box office might receive additional briefings, so that they can appropriately respond to any questions on the phone and at the window ►DD periodically does general briefings about major gifts and legacy giving ►Staff also need stewarding and acknowledgement!

BASICS OF DONOR CARE

►Know why someone gives to your organisation ►Effective and personal communication ►Establishing good contact at the outset ►Maintaining it and providing regular and appropriate information, giving time and thought to the process ►Do donors seek (public) recognition, or not? ►Does the organisation want to publicise the gift?

WHAT ARE WE LEARNING?

►Stewardship and cultivation can become indistinguishable! ►As noted already, there isn’t a one size fits all approach ►Don’t set barriers in your own way ►Creating the structures to steward creatively works

Board member Director / CEO Fundraising team Other staff Identify Often Often Often Sometimes Research Rarely Rarely Always Rarely Plan Sometimes Often Always Rarely Involve Often Often Often Often Ask Often Often Sometimes Rarely Close Sometimes Sometimes Sometimes Rarely Thank Often Often Always Sometimes Steward Often Often Always Sometimes

WHOSE JOB IS IT – WHO ARE THE BEST PEOPLE TO BE INVOLVED

ROLE OF THE BOARD

Think about how you might address this within your own organisations ►Identify prospects ►Open doors ►Introduce people ►Maintain links with supporters ►How can we make this easy for them?

ROLE OF THE BOARD

Enable board members to participate in fundraising ►“I’ll join the board but I won’t fundraise” ►“I give sweat equity, I don’t give cash equity” ►Find a simple request, to start board involvement: for example, try to engage them in letter-writing ►Letters will allow the passion and interests of the senior volunteers to shine through in unique ways and can allow recipients of the letters to better understand the impact that their gift could have - as well as the impact of receiving a letter from a board member

ROLE OF THE BOARD

Show board members what they can do to support stewardship ►Approve the stewardship program and be aware of their part in it ►Standing agenda at board meetings – an ongoing, high priority process ►Meet regularly, one-on-one with the development manager ►Personal thank you phone calls or letters ►Advise on a donor’s capacity and interests ►Attend fundraising training if they are willing and interested in developing practical skills

ROLE OF THE BOARD

What do board members need? ►Time ►Influence (in areas relevant to the cause) ►Networks, ie within HNWI or other funder circles ►Fundraising experience, or at least instinct ►To be articulate, good communicators ►Have the willingness and ability to give, both personally and corporately if appropriate ►To be comfortable asking for money ►Stature to attract other high-quality committee members ►No private agenda – makes this their only (or top) charitable commitment

SOME OF THE CHALLENGES

Briefly: can things go wrong in stewardship? ►Is it possible to over-steward? ►Sometimes certain stewardship actions become embedded over time – they may have been appropriate when they started, but no longer… ►Avoid stewardship suffering from staff and / or board turnover: cement it in, make it the norm ►Anything else?

CONCLUSION

►Vision ►Leadership ►Strategy ►budget to accomplish the task ►good stewardship!

CONCLUSION

Five Top Tips

• 1. Be clear
• 2. Create and develop a unique relationship
• 3. Make it as personal as possible
• 4. Focus on acquiring and involving the right donors for your organisation
• 5. Ask for their feedback

CONCLUSION

We are the Creative Industries ►The arts may, or could, or SHOULD, be able to do this better than anyone else! ►If we have a clear, integrated ladder of giving progression: ►A cohesive, tiered offer and creative incentives to give more

THE STEWARDSHIP CYCLE

Acquiring donors Identifying the critical few

Learning about them Telling your story Developing a relationship Engaging and involving Preparing to ask Asking and closing Documenting and saying thank you Accountability