FundRaiser Blog
Schools improve donations by focusing on their most generous donors, part 1
When schools focus their donor cultivation on parents, alumni, and the close relatives of students and alumni, they are likely to see a very positive return. Knowing this has led to increased donations for several schools who are FundRaiser users. They know for a fact that these groups are their most generous because they clearly identified this trend in FundRaiser. Using these same techniques to identify common giving trends, your school – or other non profit— can clarify which of your constituent groups are most supportive.
Beginning to locate your most generous donors
Tracking donations for donor cultivation is easy to start. “It’s a simple matter of entering your checks into FundRaiser. Then all that information is there. If you enter it once, it’s there forever unless someone moves,” says Ellen Bouye, Administrative Assistant of Oklahoma Christian Academy and a FundRaiser Select user.
Once the basic data is entered, running some simple reports through FundRaiser, can help you locate your most generous donors and focus your fundraising efforts more fully on them.
Increasing donations through focusing on your most important constituents
Menaul School is one school that has used FundRaiser to help identify important constituent groups and, as a result, is experiencing increased donations. “This has happened because we changed who and how we are approaching things,” says Troy Williamson of Menaul School. “FundRaiser has helped by tracking where the money is coming from. Then you know who to cultivate, and can focus your attention where it will benefit you the most.” Troy is Director of Institutional Advancement, and a FundRaiser Professional user.
Troy has discovered that Menaul School’s most important donors are parents and alumni. and, as a faith-based school, churches. The most important of these constituent groups are parents. “They are our most significant donors,” says Troy. “Lately, we’ve been bringing small groups of them into the president’s office for coffee parties and telling them what needs to happen.” The parents are responding with increased donations.
Individual donors who have a strong bond
Another school that is experiencing increased donations is Mariemont. The increase is coming from many individual donors, says Mariemont Trustee and board member, Ann Pardue. Donations are tracked in FundRaiser, so that Mariemont can see where the money is coming from. “We’re not getting as many big donors and they’ve cut some of their donations, but we’ve seen more donors giving smaller amounts.” Ann is a FundRaiser Professional user.
Focusing on individual donors keeps donations high for Lansing Christian School, too. “We have received gifts to pay off our building. We have never depended on grants and organizations. It has always been private donors,” says Carol Feuss, director of the Lansing Christian School Foundation in Michigan, and a FundRaiser Professional user.
To learn more about how FundRaiser can help you with identifying your most generous donors
Look over the FundRaiser Family of donor management software
