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Our Ask An Expert series features real questions answered by Claire Axelrad, J.D., CFRE, our very own Fundraising Coach, also known as Charity Clairity.

Today’s question comes from a fundraiser who needs advice on how to create an impactful stewardship experience for their donors.

Dear Charity Clairity, I have a donor who has been giving at the $10,000 level for four years. He has signaled that he’s interested in learning more about the program he’s been funding. What is the most impactful stewardship experience I could create?

— Seeking Impact

Dear Seeking Impact,

Ask yourself: What is the most personal, intimate, on-mission experience I can create for this donor?

The key word here is intimate. A donor who has been investing $10,000/year for four years and is curious to learn more deserves, and would appreciate, something very personal.

It must be on-mission. The experience must connect him with the actual mission in an up-close way.

Most importantly, the experience you create must honor his signal. When a donor sends a signal, you pounce. His signal? He’s shown you where his passion lies — in the program he’s been funding. He wants to see it. He wants to feel it. He wants to know it’s working.

If you’re not already, this is the time to switch from transactional to relational. You want to build a committed, deeply engaged donor.

This stewardship experience will also help you lay the groundwork for a potential upgrade in his giving. Not now — one never cultivates with an “ask” in mind — but the natural relationship-building that follows a meaningful experience is what “moves” donors forward.

Start with…

1. A Personal Phone Call

Before creating an experience, I’d suggest getting on the phone to do a bit of discovery. You want to find out:

• What, exactly, he’s most interested in learning about?
• What format works best for him?
• What would be the most convenient time?

This phone call itself is also a stewardship experience. You’re demonstrating your interest in him, and your commitment to making this about him rather than you.

2. A Customized Site Visit

Taking your cue from the discovery call, create a site visit experience that is tailor-made for him. Not a “tour.” Those are for groups, and don’t feel special or intimate.

Rather, think “narrative.” What’s the story you can tell through the experience of a site visit? What is he most interested in seeing? If there are clients, students, animals, plants, water quality, artifacts, etc. — whatever your specific mission entails — how can this donor be shown the impact of his support through an up-close experience with the beneficiary?

Best of all: can you introduce him to a beneficiary who’s been affected by the specific program he’s funded? That is about as “on-mission” and “intimate” as it gets. It’s also the most powerful way to convey impact.

Can’t do a site visit because the beneficiary is a fish, a tree, or water quality? Get creative. Think: impact photos, videos, stories. Introduce him to the people doing the work. Let him know the specific ways his dollars have been deployed and what results have followed.

3. An Impact Letter (Then Repeat)

It’s important that this be a letter, not an email. Why? Because something that looks and feels like a “programmatic mailer” (even if it’s very good) will feel less personal. And since this is a donor who has a deep connection with you, making it personal is everything.

The impact letter is “what your gift did.” It should answer the questions: What is different about the world because of this donor’s investment? What has changed? What has happened with the specific program he’s been funding?

Done well, this becomes the beginning of an ongoing conversation between you and this donor. And that’s what you want. You want this to be a relationship, not a transaction.

I hope this helps!

— Charity Clairity

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