STEWARDSHIP: CREATING RELATIONSHIPS FOR LIFE with Patricia Castanha of Creative Consulting London
OUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY Creative Partnerships Australia acknowledges Australian’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live, learn and work. We pay our respect to their Elders, both past and present, and to our shared future.
WELCOME and AGENDA TIME ITEM 9:30am Arrival and coffee 10:00 – 11:20 Welcome and presentation 11:20 – 11:30 Morning tea break 11:30 – 12:30 Presentation 12:30 – 1:15 Lunch 1:15pm – 2:30 Presentation 2:30 – 2:40 Afternoon tea 2:40 – 4:00 Presentation 4:00pm Conclude
WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO GET FROM TODAY? Expressions Dance Company (QLD), supported through Plus1 2017-18
AIMS Today is designed to help you… ► Understand the goals of stewardship ► Be reminded of the elements of effective stewardship ► Review and refresh organisation-wide stewardship strategy ► Consolidate stewardship for more effective fundraising
STEWARDSHIP What is stewardship? The effort of any non-profit organisation which seeks and receives philanthropic support to ensure donors experience high-quality interactions that foster long-term engagement and investment.
STEWARDSHIP Why is stewardship important? ► What is the potential of stewardship? ► Why can it be so powerful and have such impact? ► It is easy to focus hard on finding new donors ► But don’t let stewardship become an afterthought ► Effective stewardship turns first-time supporters into loyal / recurring donors
GOALS OF A STEWARDSHIP STRATEGY ► Solidify relationships with existing donors ► Generate new insights for your prospect research ► Whether for repeat donations from existing donors or new supporters ► Learn as much about them as possible ► So you can… solidify relationships ► As you can see, we’re already developing the concept of a virtuous circle, which we’ll continue to develop today
GOALS OF A STEWARDSHIP STRATEGY ► What would you change or add to what we’ve just discussed? ► Do you think stewardship is the same for major gift and lower-level fundraising?
SEVEN STEPS OF FUNDRAISING Let’s go back a bit…and remember the ‘Seven Steps’ But first - are there in fact seven steps? I manage to come up with eight and someone I know only has five! Who is going to start us off? Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (NT), supported by Plus1 2016-17
SEVEN STEPS OF FUNDRAISING IDENTIFY potential supporters RESEARCH capacity, interest, personal connections PLAN cultivation and solicitation steps INVOLVE carry out cultivation plan (meetings, visits, etc) ASK decide who, when, where, amount, project CLOSE finalise the gift, deal with practical arrangements, ie tax, instalments, etc THANK i) formal / legal acknowledgement and ii) from anyone within the organisation who means something to the donor STEWARD keep involved until time to make the next ask
WHY DONORS GIVE ► Belief in the cause ► Being a catalyst for change ► Duty and responsibility ► Because of who asks ► Self-actualisation ► To forge enjoyable / beneficial relationships for themselves
WHY DONORS GIVE Enjoyable and beneficial relationships ► Fun, enjoyment ► Personal / professional fulfilment of connections with a range of people ► The satisfaction of personal development ► Applying expertise in a different sector ► Learning new skills ► Directing money which might otherwise go to the government ► Addressing causes with a personal connection ► Defining a place in history
WHY DONORS GIVE ► Many donors make careful checks before they commit and what they find can influence a decision, eg: ▪ Size of the charity ▪ Perceived or actual quality of leadership ▪ Levels of expenditure on fundraising or aspects of administration ► Communications ► Appreciation ► Recognition ► Having a say / influencing governance Are these the crucial elements of a donor / recipient relationship, to foster successful development of a sustained commitment to the organisation?
THE STEWARDSHIP CYCLE Learning about them Telling your story Developing a relationship Accountability Acquiring donors Identifying the critical few Engaging and Documenting involving and saying thank you Asking and Preparing to ask closing
WHEN DOES A STEWARDSHIP PROGRAMME BEGIN? What could the “seven steps of stewardship” look like? 1. Plan (getting ready, across the organisation, at every donor level) 2. Ask (create opportunities to move donors to the next level of support) 3. Activate and involve (thank, recognise, report and inform) 4. Identify and research (seeking opportunities to be strategic) 5. Ask (create opportunities to move donors to the next level of support) 6. Activate and involve (thank, recognise, report and inform) 7. Review
STEWARDSHIP IS SIMPLE As you review or develop your stewardship strategy: ► Understand and use your donor data effectively ► Make it easy for donors to leverage the impact of their gifts ► Thank them for all they do – this is the essence of what we will be talking about today ► So what are the measures of success?
BASICS OF DONOR CARE Acknowledgement ► Phone call ► Email ► Handwritten note
CASE STUDY - NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA OF GREAT BRITAIN NYO won “Best Supporter Experience” award at the UK’s Institute of Fundraising 2019 National Fundraising Awards ► Their campaign, “Turning talent into brilliance” created a sense of romance that donors responded to ► Acquisition was themed around this phrase ► Stewardship centred on the honest truth that Because of you ... we have a National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
CASE STUDY Nicolette Shaw, Development Director, says: Our ambitions remain high. Our stewardship programme needs to be the biggest and best programme in the sector. We should become known for the very best donor care and exemplary supporter experience. We will know each and every one of our donors and why they care about us. We will constantly ask ourselves if we can be doing more and if we can bring more to our donors. We opened up the lid on everything that we did as an organisation and invited our donors in. Many donors joined us on residencies and met our musicians. They told us that our approach had been sophisticated, appropriate and welcoming. We set ourselves a rulebook that we would never break.
GROUP DISCUSSION 1. What actions do you do, or can you do, to deliver stewardship aims like those of NYO? 2. Do those actions work for everyone, or only if your organisation is large / small? 3. What are your barriers to best practice in stewardship ► Feed back to us
NYO’S STEWARDSHIP PROTOCOL ► No thank you letter is signed by a computer – all are hand signed ► All thank you letters go out within a set period of time ► The young musicians hand write postcards to new donors above a certain level ► All requests to unsubscribe are handled within a day ► Any donor who complains is telephoned (if they have given us permission to do so) ► All new donors are incorporated into our existing schemes ► We improved our news emails ► Many of our new donors don’t immediately supply an email address, so we added a twice-yearly newsletter that demonstrated how their money was being put to use
IS IT THE SAME FOR ALL? Is there a significant difference in the way you thank a donor based on their giving history? ► First time donor ► Mid-level giver ► Long term supporter ► Major gift But for all: be sure that the acknowledgement is prompt!
ADMIN… In other words - gift management and tracking ► Where your gifts are coming from? ► Are you allocating them in the way the donor requested? ► Can you report on them simply, clearly and RECORD-KEEPING IS accurately? CRUCIAL ► Embrace constant research and data management, at all levels ► Don’t forget ethical record keeping ► Who can share examples of really effective tools, templates, software?
MORE ADMIN… It’s also about tracking myriad on -going contact points with your supporters and “soft” information ► When does x need a report ► What format do they want it in RECORD-KEEPING IS ► What was discussed in your last phone CRUCIAL conversation ► What did they say to your board member when they bumped into each other at another event
MOVES MANAGEMENT
MOVES MANAGEMENT Typically, moves management has five stages 1. Identify: through prospect research, introductions from board members / volunteers, or because they’ve given a small amount 2. Qualify: this is where research comes in – how many of you research every new supporter when they first give? 3. Cultivate! 4. Solicit: plan when and how 5. Stewardship: thank them for their support and the impact, steward them until it is time for the next solicitation
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