The assurance of global success in Social Entrepreneurship (Social enterprises, social benefit companies, social initiatives, non-profits, etc.) requires social entrepreneurs and innovators working with profit consulting services to mend routine ideas or try new ones to find solutions to the many potential challenges they face. Among these challenges, is the inevitable question of how to acquire the financing they need to lift their new ventures off the ground. Securing funding is almost always cited by entrepreneurs as one of their top challenges. Adequate non-profit consulting and fundraising consulting go a long way in suggesting solutions to this problem as they certainly highlight the importance of donors and the specific need to retain them.
Effective Donor Communication is key to the acquisition of sufficient and continued funding for social entrepreneurs because donations and grants are a major source of their funding. In consequence, genuine connection with donors is certainly essential and can be enhanced to maximize benefits by applying and giving prominence to certain fundamental tools.
Efficient Donor Communication system/plan
Hiring a grant writer and/or a consultant helps non-profits and other social benefit companies to realize and set up capable Donor Communication plans which incorporate their overall development strategy and handle relevant issues often neglected by these companies. Surveys indicate that only about 45{3b63f2b93addb01cd0650b04902555609b90507e3f2ce2f684711c3a8631e3e2} of fundraisers are aware of their donor retention rate and most are ignorant of the global progressive increase in donor attrition often originating from bad communication. An efficient Donor Communication Plan provides a solid foundation for addressing these issues. It should always be remembered that Donor Communication is a process that is not dependent on a single email but on regular communication. The relationship between companies and donors is best developed and strengthened over time.
Message Specificity
Securing new donors is as important as retaining old ones. Finding and retaining donors can be guaranteed by prioritizing donor satisfaction and continuously inspiring them to be a major part of the work you do. The idea of always being extremely clear on messages that target the astounding relevance of why they care about your project in the first place highlights the need for specificity. General messages are often very boring, and studies show that vague statements can bring about the unwanted feeling of distrust among readers. Keep your donors in mind and only send them information that they truly care about reading. Making messages more specific increases their relevance, and this can be done by using unique stories from your donors- as they relate to your cause- and grouping them into different meaningful categories. This separation can be based on giving history and habits, programs they support, the medium used to bring them to your organization, the current attachment they have to your organization, etc. Classifying donors into categories in relation to these qualities facilitates the generation of specific messages that make it easier to break through and hold their attention.
Establish conversation forums
Donors are often people with ideas and sentiments. It’s important to consider establishing significant approaches to communicating with them. It’s also important that they don’t just hear from you whenever something is needed from them. The value of a basic phone call is so often highly underestimated. Everyone is much more engaged in the preparation of written documentation, neglecting the impact of a much more personal live voice on the other end of the line. In addition to providing an opportunity for a more interactive communication, a phone call makes the statement of how important it was to take time out of your schedule to connect with them.
Showing potential donors and current donors what you do is another way of communicating or conversing with them. This can be done by creatively making use of photos, graphics, reports, graphs, charts, maps, or a number of other visuals. Your presentation can be packaged using regular print or online through email or other internet interactive forums because talking to donors is as important as listening to them.
Be true to your word
Irresponsibility with donations is the easiest way to lose credibility and trustworthiness with donors. It’s normal to lose the support of any donor who discovers money earmarked for a specific need was spent by your organization on something else. Don’t change plans midstream and allow yourself to be tempted to allocate the funds for a different purpose. Don’t expect donors to find it acceptable if they gave money in response to your urgent plea to build a library at an orphanage and later discover you have instead upgraded your computer network system or hired new staff while nothing has been done at the library. It’s important to be clear on your mission before setting a course. With all this in mind, we still can’t deny the existence of times when we need to make course revisions. However, core areas should always be exempted from being corrected midstream.
Show enough honor, respect, and appreciation to donors
Everyone enjoys being well treated, and it feels even better when it comes unexpectedly. Donors are truly special and should be honored, respected, and appreciated.
When current donors are at fundraising or other events, make a point of treating them special by taking the time to make sure they have what they need, politely introducing them to others, or even sending them special gifts or notes with no strings (or appeal letters!) attached. Thoughtful and appreciative gestures allow you to reciprocate their generosity in partnering with your mission.
People who help finance worthy causes are the true heroes of our non-profit world. There are numerous ways to show honor to these donors who act as the armor-bearers of your vision; focusing attention on a donor in your newsletter, thanking them for their generosity in funding a particular project with an article or brochure, mentioning them in a speech at an event they are attending, sending a certificate of gratitude, or designing a custom plaque in honor of their generous giving. However, as a precautionary note it is important to ask permission prior to using a name or photo when planning any public mention because some donors prefer to remain anonymous.
Earning high donor ratings is really not difficult. It all comes down to treating donors the way you expect to be treated. For social entrepreneurs, acquiring specific expansions of these tools can be explored with the help of hired freelance grant writers, fundraising consulting and non-profit consulting agencies, and profit consulting services.
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