Grassroots.org, www.grassroots.org, a nonprofit technology organization, and SEO.com, www.seo.com, a consulting company in Lehi, Utah, are offering free two-hour telephone consultations to help nonprofit organizations improve their visibility on Internet search-engine listing. For more information: Go to www.grassroots.org.

Why bother improving your online web presence? Because a recent study by Harris Interactive and Mindshare Interactive Campaigns found that nearly 40 percent of people who support nonprofit organizations either as a donor, volunteer, or advocate report that they consult online sources of charity information before making donations. You can read the study’s findings: here.

That’s why!

Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy, September 9, 2007

The Indiana University Center on Philanthropy recently revealed the tops reasons why lapsed donors quit donating.

What is particularly important is to notice that 50 percent of these reasons are within your control. Therefore, manage these potential pitfalls. It’s much easier to keep a donor, than to find a new one:

1. Feeling other causes were more deserving (27%)
2. No long able to afford support (22%)
3. No memory of supporting the charity (11%)
4. Donor supporting charity by other means (7%)
5. Donor relocated (7%)
6. Death of donor (5%)
7. Charity’s communications were inappropriate (4%)
8. Charity didn’t remind donors to give again (3%)
9. Charity asked for an inappropriate amount (3%)
10. Charity didn’t inform donor how contribution was used (2%)

Are you doing all you can to keep your donors aware of what you are doing with their donations?

The PDN Philanthhropy News Digest, a feature of The Foundation Center, is published every Friday afternoon. Each issue of this free service provides a brief overview of current funding opportunities offered by foundations and other grantmakers. Make the e-service part of your weekly reading diet.

The digest can be found here: http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/. Good luck!

Philanthropy is based on voluntary action for the common good. It is a tradition of giving and sharing that is primary to the quality of life. To assure that philanthropy merits the respect and trust of the general public, and that donors and prospective donors can have full confidence in the not-for-profit organizations and causes they are asked to support, we declare that all donors have these rights:

1. To be informed of the organization’s mission, of the way the organization intends to use donated resources, and of its capacity to use donations effectively for their intended purposes.
2. To be informed of the identity of those serving on the organization’s governing board, and to expect the board to exercise prudent judgment in their stewardship responsibilities.
3. To have access to the organization’s more recent financial statements.
4. To be assured their gifts will be used for the purposes for which they are given.
5. To receive appropriate acknowledgement and recognition.
6. To be assured that information about their donations is handled with respect and with confidentiality to the extent provided by law.
7. To expect that all relationships with individuals representing organizations of interest to their donor will be professional in nature.
8. To be informed whether those seeking donations are volunteers, employees of the organization or hired solicitors.
9. To have the opportunity for their names to be deleted from mailing lists that an organization may intend to share.
10. To be free to ask questions when making a donation and to receive prompt, truthful and forthright answers.

Developed by: American Association of Fund Raising Counsel, Association of Healthcare Philanthropy, Council for Advancement and Support of Education, and Association of Fundraising Professionals

The November 23, 2006 issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy has a terrific article on donor fatigue. While email provides a cost-effective way to stay in contact with donors, if unmanaged email can undermine your ability to secure repeat donations. As you consider contact with your donors, consider the following:

Build relationships first
The first donation is the opportunity to begin to build a relationship between your organization and your new donor. It’s not tacit permission to deluge your donor with repeat requests.

Regularly monitor what donors think
Do research. Find out if you donors are satisfied with your work and how they are treated. Make adjustment accordingly.

Focus on donors, not money
It’s not about the donation; it’s about the donor. If the only contact you are making is to ask for money, you are failing. Remember, it’s about relationships building. That starts with asking and then listening to what is needed and wanted.

Respond swiftly to complaints
Donor complaints are an opportunity to shine. Researchers have found that most donors are willing to make a subsequent gift to a charity if a complaint they have about the group is resolved.

Give donors choices
Some charities give new donors options about what type of information the charity will send them and how often the nonprofit group contacts them. Listen carefully; your donors are telling you what works for them.

Provide meaningful information
The Boy Scouts’ Dan Beard Council, in Cincinnati, report that more donors are willing to honor their pledges now that the organization lets donors know what their gifts are accomplishing. Two years ago, the council revised its thank-you letters to parents who make donations to the council and began sending them out within a week of receiving each gift, rather than waiting until the end of the month. The result the amount of unpaid pledges has shrunk from 9 percent of all dollars pledged down to 3 percent in two years. And the council is raising $1.6-million annually, up from $1.4-million.

Reduce solicitations
Many direct-marketing experts argue that frequent appeals do raise more money — even if they also attract a lot of complaints. But other experts have found that approach shortsighted and based emphasizing dollars raised annually, rather than on developing long-term donors. Loyal donors cost far less to solicit because a higher percentage of them give in response to a mailing or other appeal.

Thank donors personally
Research found that thanking donors personally promotes their commitment to a cause and increases the amount of money they subsequently give. In a test, donors received a telephone call from a board member within 48 hours after the charity got its first gift. Among donors who made a second gift, those who received the thank-you calls gave nearly 40 percent more on average than the others. And by the end of two years, 70 percent were still contributing.

A vital part of any fundraising program must be the retention of donors. Given substantial acquisition costs, it is not uncommon for a donor to contribute three times before reaching breakeven. According to a report cited in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, many donors stop giving because they hate the way charities approach them for money.

Large majorities said that they would continue to give — and even increase their contributions over time — if they received:

• Prompt acknowledgments of their gifts,
• Confirmation that the contributions were used as they intended, and.
• Evidence of measurable results about what their donations had achieved.

The same donors point out other concerns:

• Most charities do not communicate with them in any meaningful way about how their donations are used.
• More than 90 percent said that “none” or “hardly any” charities had contacted them without asking for money.

Here’s the takeaway:

Those who had stopped giving to one or more charities were significantly more likely than repeat donors to say they had been:

• Solicited too often,
• Not thanked appropriately for their gifts, or
• Not given an adequate choice on how much to donate.

You can read the entire article here.