Know Your Supporter
How many organisations can safely say that they know their supporters? I have a feeling that many organisations will say they know their supporters very well, however upon deeper analysis, will discover that perhaps they don't know them as well as they thought.
Having been to many conferences, roundtables, speaker sessions etc over the years, I hear many stories and personal anecdotes. However, there is one in particular that I hear on a regular basis that I would like to share:
Mary was a regular volunteer for a charitable organisation in the U.S. She had been volunteering 3 mornings a week for over the last 10 years. It was later discovered that Mary had given a major gift ($1 million) to a neighbouring charity. The charity she had been volunteering with had no idea that she was wealthy and could give this type of gift. They only viewed her as a supporter in terms of her time. When asked why she donated the money to the neighbouring charity and not to the one she volunteers for, her response was "I didn't know you needed the money and you didn't ask." This is a great example of not knowing your supporter - one charity's loss was another's gain. They lost out on a considerable gift because they didn't take the time to understand their supporter. How many Mary's do you think are attached to your organisation?
Sadly, there's no magic solution that will reveal everything and anything about your supporters. However, there are ways in which an organisation can utilise specific tools to help them gain this information.
In this economic climate, we have to work smarter, not just harder. Therefore it's so important to maintain good relationships with your existing supporter base and think of innovative, effective ways to reach out to new supporters. How can you do this? By utilising a Supporter Relationship Management (SRM) solution.
SRM includes a wide range of tools designed to understand and serve both prospective and existing supporters more effectively. By implementing a robust SRM solution, you can better understand established supporters, identify and concentrate on your best supporters, target supporter development efforts and keep your existing supporters loyal. At first glance, this may seem like an additional unnecessary expense with little return. However, taking a supporter-centered focus should boost your revenues, lower overall expenses and increase supporter responsiveness.
According to a recent survey conducted by the market research firm Gartner, which consisted of 90 business and IT leaders, more than three -quarters of respondents are planning to enhance their investments in SRM initiatives in 2009, rather than de-commit resources. It may seem counter-intuitive during a difficult economic climate to increase investment rather than cut costs. The instinctive reaction is to switch to defensive mode; cut all strategic projects and then wait until things improve. However, in the long run, retreating could be more detrimental. Now is the time to make smart investments, so you can focus on improving supporter retention and increasing wallet share.