Holistic Donor Engagement: the fundraising strategy that works for donors AND nonprofits (Part 2)
- Perry Radford
- 5 hours ago
- 6 min read
In case you missed Part 1 of this series on Holistic Donor Engagement, you should read that first!
Fundraising For All Gifts
As a fundraiser, asking for a donor’s “best gift” - the asset they have that can best position a nonprofit to achieve its desired outcomes - demonstrates your seriousness about the shared values and care for the mission bringing you in front of a donor. As trends show individual donors giving bigger gifts to fewer causes, this is one way to make the most of connecting with supporters.
Demonstrating that you “see” a supporter and understand their values and motivations is an important part of your acknowledgement process, regardless of the type of gift they have extended. That process recognizes the gifts a donor is giving, and opens the door to continued or extended giving. If you take any gift for granted, that can symbolize misalignment or a transactional relationship. Giving is connected to folks’ identity, so improper stewardship of a gift can seem like a rebuff to the supporter.
Here is more information about each of the Acts of Giving and the impact they can have:
Time
Giving time is the act of showing up and using your presence to help. Depending on someone’s season of life (not their age, but what is happening in their life), some folks are incredibly rich in time and others not so much. Giving time is often associated with a physical presence, but that is not a prerequisite. Gifts of time can be most useful when you need to scale your work or have that large physical presence. The gift of time also usually goes together with other gifts; for example, you can’t offer talent, testimony, or ties if you don’t have the time to give them.
Think of the gift of time as the cornerstone of the acts of giving - because even the consideration to give takes you guessed it - time. On top of that, we’re used to hearing ideas like “time is the most precious thing you have in life.” That signifies that those investing time in your organization are really showing their values, giving you the opportunity to recognize their gift and values at the same time.
Talent
Giving talent is the act of sharing skills to make an impact. Us do-gooders in the non-profit space are already well accustomed to the idea of our careers having a greater purpose, something that enriches the world around us while paying the bills. There are many ways for individuals to bring those professional skills to causes and make a difference:
Serving on the board of a non-profit is one of the biggest, most impactful ways to give. As a governing board member, supporters can bring talents such as strategic thinking, analysis, or consensus-building to the group. Professional skills of all stripes (think marketing, real-estate, accounting, legal, and so much more) can also add tremendous value to a board.
Mentoring is in high demand in many fields and the related non-profit organizations that serve them and their practitioners. Experience is a great teacher, and donors can provide those insights to those newer in their field.
Nonprofits need talent of all kinds including talent in less financially-valued parts of the economy that are nevertheless critical, like the arts and caregiving! Finding this kind of match can bring so much meaning to what a donor uniquely has to offer and give to others.
Treasure
Giving treasure is the act of giving money, and what most people think of first when it comes to giving. Giving money often allows for nonprofits to take the most direct approach to getting their work done, and can also be the simplest/lowest friction way for a donor to support a cause.
That being said, there are many types of financial assets that supporters can give. When fundraising for treasure, cash, stocks, and Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) are just the beginning. In fact, average gift size dramatically increases when looking at non-cash gifts. So like in working with donors to secure those non-treasure gifts, there are great opportunities to help donors make their “best” by being prepared to ask for and accept a wider variety of financial assets.
Testimony
Giving testimony is the act of sharing a personal story in order to advocate for a cause. There may be a personal reason for a supporter to want to be vocal about their experience and elevate consciousness around a topic. Additionally, research shows that stories and their connection to emotions are one of the most compelling ways to get people to give treasure, so testimony can also be a force multiplier for fundraising activities. Lastly, when donors use their voices, it has social capital. People who know or identify with those supporters will likely resonate the most with their stories, which can help you advance your organization’s story or bring more supporters into the fold. In this sense, testimonials can power peer-to-peer campaigns and greatly increase your organization’s reach in a more personal and connected way.
There are also special ethical concerns around gifts of testimony that nonprofit professionals need to understand.
Consent must be collected around sharing a supporter’s story, and it needs to be specific about whether you will editorialize the story or share “as-is”. The storyteller should have the power and choice over which elements of the story become public and which remain private. There are additional concerns about the “venue” of the story - is it being shared publicly across social media? Is the storyteller being asked to stand at a podium at a gala and share something highly personal with hundreds of strangers?
Sharing a testimony can be re-traumatizing for some supporters. How are you preparing to support them through this experience, or do you have a way to invite participation that is supportive from the start? That may include diverting some people away from this act if it is harmful to them.
Nonprofit storytelling has the potential to re-victimize and to exploit a testimony to manipulate the feelings of an audience. Efforts like those are not good for your supporters, yet remain common.
Ties
Giving ties is the act of lending and building relationships and community in the pursuit of impact. Giving ties is about leveraging existing relationships to build strategic partnerships that advance an organization’s mission and goals. Championing a cause and using social capital to build those bridges, ties can be essential when organizations need to build coalitions, find the right supporters, and advocate to local governments.
However, there is a distinction between “who do you know?” and “who do you know who cares about this cause and can help us strategically advance it?” Understanding propensity, a supporter’s ability to give, AND their interest in your organization’s cause, is key to answering that second question and getting connected to the right people.
Holistic Fundraising In Practice
Creating pathways for donors to give all gifts helps you meet people where they are and fulfill their moral imagination. But there can be operational barriers to moving to this model if you haven’t used it before.
For example, as fundraisers, we are trained to focus on making it as easy as possible for donors to give. We are encouraged to create a frictionless giving experience. What would that look like for supporters who give testimony or ties? How do we operationalize soliciting and accepting those gifts? How do we demonstrate that we are trusted partners when we are soliciting these gifts for the first time? My advice is to start small with supporters you know, piloting holistic giving experiences where there is already two-way trust. You are likely doing this already and the operational work is a reframe and naming this practice explicitly.
Of course there’s also a systemic barrier which many organizations have around job descriptions and how volunteering and fundraising are internally siloed. In a large organization, you may have staff responsible for talent (like a board relations professional or a career development professional), for time (volunteer engagement staff), ties (external relations), and so on. It’s worthwhile to think about the differences between your internal needs and potential external partners when it comes to your relationship-focused staff.
By seeding collaboration, understanding each other’s roles and programs, you can prepare all colleagues to talk with supporters about their holistic giving or “best” gifts. That doesn’t mean each professional knows how to do each other’s jobs - it means each external relationship officer, regardless of program, is able to have a trusting, candid conversation with all supporters about how they can best support a cause overall.
Holistic Donor Engagement is a way for supporters to maximize their giving, and for nonprofits to maximize their impact. It represents a shift away from the siloes of fundraising and volunteerism and is more representative of the diversity of ways supporters enrich organizations and their communities.
As you reflect on my fundraising philosophy, I encourage you to consider these questions:
What small change can you make tomorrow towards Holistic Donor Engagement?
Who at your organization also focuses on relationship-building? How can you collaborate with them more frequently or effectively?
How can you advocate for Holistic Donor Engagement with your executive team or board?
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