Four Questions to Ask Along the Donor Journey

Every nonprofit leader wants to achieve mission and scale impact. So, they must continually widen the base for support and intentionally deepen the relationship between the donor and the organization in ways that are bilaterally transformational. Below are four questions your team might consider as you think about donor interaction and journey.

What do you want from your donors?

There are lots of things that draw donors to your work; impact, creativity, great marketing, a definable problem, a doable solution, and relationships, but the most important thing is trust.  Without trust nothing is possible.  As you seek to widen the base for support it's important to have a clear strategy for building trust. So the answer to the first question, "What do we want from our donors?" is always trust. How is your team communicating and building trust?

The second and third questions will define and shape your engagement strategy as you seek to deepen the donor’s connection to the work.

What do you want for your financial partners?

What do your financial partners want from you? 

The well-crafted donor experience makes the donor the hero of your story and connects donors to doers in the mission. While you and your team might answer these questions in different ways, I’d like to suggest that as donors engage more deeply you want them to feel known, valued, and appreciated. You want them to engage with content and become more informed about the mission. Most of all you want them to know that their partnership with you is impactful. When a giving experience makes a financial partner feel impactful, informed, and important that experience becomes transformational for the donor.

What do your financial partners want from you? When nonprofit teams ignore the reality of donor expectations they can inadvertently create giving friction and donor resistance. If your nonprofit has a significant number of high-capacity donors who are not growing in their giving it’s likely that you have inadvertently created resistance that needs to be identified and eliminated. I would suggest that your donors expect; to see the wise use of resources; to be understood and respected; truth and transparency in all communications; and a clear and meaningful impact interpretation for their major gifts. Sometimes, the wise thing to do is sit down with key stakeholders and simply ask them what they expect from you. 

Last, all of us want the kind of donors who participate sacrificially, engage passionately, and understand clearly the mission. When that happens, we want to ask for two additional things from our partners, “Will you help lead, and will you leverage your network to advance the mission?"

Asking a donor to become a part of your leadership circle means you are ready to accept the aspirations that come with such a relationship.

The fourth question forms a gateway to ownership.  However, before you extend the invitation to lead, and leverage, be sure there is no donor resistance. Too often, I see nonprofit leaders extend an invitation to a donor to become a part of the leadership circle as a strategy for increasing commitment. The donor ends up using the leadership position to “beat the drum” of their donor resistance issues. The relationship quickly deteriorates along with their commitment to the mission. When you are ready to extend that invitation to lead, and leverage, then you are ready for the fourth question.

What do your partners want for your nonprofit? 

Like a parent who has dreams for a child, attachment comes with aspiration. What do the most committed partners want for you? There are a lot of answers to this question. It is one you should ask your leadership circle regularly. Don’t just ask them about how you as an organization can achieve more, ask them how you can be better at who you are.  In my experience, most champions want organizational harmony and process clarity; to be in a community of like-minded practical people; an opportunity to co-architect the future; and to see you work collaboratively with others.  If there are political factions, process gaps, a lack of clarity and commitment, constant staff turnover, indecision, an absence of strategic thinking, limited opportunities for meaningful input, and a territorial approach to relationships they will say no to leading and leveraging.

Developing a donor journey is not just about being good at what you do; it is about being great at who you are. Start with trust, create a great door experience, understand expectations, and welcome the aspirations of those who want the very best for you. What you’ll discover is that people will want to participate, a significant number of people will engage at a deeper level, and you’ll attract the kind of leadership that creates a sustainable future.