Anonymous Donors Deserve Permanent Recognition. Fundraisers Benefit too.
This week Amherst College in Massachusetts announced two impressive gifts, $100 million and $25 million, both made by graduates who asked to remain anonymous. Emory’s Winship Cancer Center recently received $4.7 million anonymously. Earlier this year, more than a dozen colleges and universities received multi-million dollar donations from an anonymous donor who worked through financial advisors to guarantee that not even the institutions knew the origin of the gifts. Despite the donors’ requests to be anonymous, it is imperative that these gifts receive permanent, public recognition.
Filed under Donor Communications, Philanthropy | Tags: Anonymous Donor, area naming, Best Practices for Donor Recognition, Donor Recognition, Naming Opportunities, Philanthropy, Trends in Fundraising | Comments OffNonprofits: Link your Thanks to your Brand
Communicate with your public that philanthropy is a core value to your organization. It is imperative to do so in today’s competitive fundraising environment. Link those branding messages through the use of traditional marketing approaches of content continuity and unity when you thank. Continue reading »
Filed under Social Media, Think Before You Thank | Tags: Branding, Capital Campaign, Donor Recognition, Fundraising, new media, online giving, Philanthropy, Think Before You Thank, Trends in Fundraising | Comments OffLeverage a Position of Authority through Donor Recognition Planning
Today Anne and I presented at the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy International Conference in San Francisco. We used the Greenville Hospital System’s Donor Recognition Program Standards & Guidelines as a case study to demonstrate how documented policy can leverage a position of leadership for the fundraiser. Our experience has shown that donor recognition planning has a positive impact on giving to the organization.
The handouts from this presentation are included here for quick reference.
AHP International Presentation 092609
In short, we focused on the eight key components of any comprehensive and fully-functioning donor recognition policy:
- Written donor recognition policies and procedures
- Comparative analysis of giving programs and their benefits
- Naming opportunities master plan with proposed location and scope of architecturally-integrated recognition elements
- Guidelines for donor recognition design
- Content formatting guidelines
- Product installation maintenance guidelines
- Product order forms
- Product implementation reference library
Participants were asked to complete a survey on the status and value of any donor recognition policy already in existence for their organizations. Likely the first ever research into this subject, findings from this survey will be available here soon. If you would like to participate in this research and analysis of the correlation between programmatic donor recognition and broadened and enhanced giving, please email thanks@rewinc.com for further information. Reference “survey” in the subject line.
This is the AHP presentation: Leverage a Position of Authority through Donor Recognition Planning.
The Future: Online Donor Recognition
There is a shift in modern philanthropy away from foundation giving toward a new philanthropic model that includes highly organized means for a much larger number of individual donors to participate in the growing global philanthropy industry. What should donor recognition be when there is no opportunity to gather the donors in one place, when there are no walls for plaques and when the individual gifts are smaller but the impact of the giving is huge? Why is it so important that we find new ways to achieve meaningful donor recognition online?
Filed under Donor Communications, Social Media | Tags: Best Practices, Donor Recognition, new media, online giving, Philanthropy, Trends in Fundraising | Comments OffFundraisers today are challenged with shifting the delivery method for donor recognition and telling a more complicated, larger story. Continue reading »
Donor Recognition “Branding” within Your Organization
Most often one thinks of branding as a marketing activity but if you flip the branding coin you see how basic marketing theories go hand-in-hand with donor recognition. The two together work as a team, enforcing your organization’s overall presence, personality, and values. Continue reading »
Filed under Best Practices for Donor Recognition, Donor Recognition Programs, Philanthropy, Recognition Environments | Tags: Best Practices, Communications, Development, Donor Recognition, Philanthropy, Stewardship, Successes, Think Before You Thank | Comments Off