Donor Cultivation

As we make our plans to celebrate Independence Day this year, it means so much more to me than any other year in my life. That’s a bold statement, I realize, but I believe it to be true!

For a while, when I was in middle-school, I had the good fortune of living on a 1,200-acre ranch in central Washington State. We lived on the last ranch outside of a small cow town in the foothills of the Stewart Mountain range.

Of course, I’ve enjoyed being with my family more this year—at times, all day, every day, for weeks at a stretch! But I miss the ongoing personal interaction with what I consider my “extended family” of friends, colleagues, clients, and others who normally fill up our days—

My wife, Kathryn, and I have been watching every Christmas movie we can find during these evenings between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So many great movies were made just following World War II.

I spent much of my early years living on farms and ranches in Central Washington State. So “social distancing” was a way of life except when the school bus picked me up at the end of very long gravel roads, where the mailbox stood.

Just before Thanksgiving, 25 years ago, my family’s dining room table became more than a place for a holiday meal. It provided the platform for millions of meals, as my father started Douglas Shaw & Associates right then and there, going on to serve alongside dozens of compassionate organizations and ministries worldwide.

If you listed the top five ways your organization could start the year off strong, what would make the cut? Perhaps it’s staying ahead of the latest trends, having a solid strategic plan, or effectively utilizing data and analysis. But there’s one thing even more important than all of the above—your donors.

Foundations matter. And the best time to fix a faulty foundation is before you start building on it. When it comes to building a monthly donor program (aka a sustainer program), this is especially important because all your assumptions will get cemented into the foundation of its structure.

Just before Thanksgiving, 25 years ago, my family’s dining room table became more than a place for a holiday meal. It provided the platform for millions of meals, as my father started Douglas Shaw & Associates right then and there, going on to serve alongside dozens of compassionate organizations and ministries worldwide.

Your donor relationships are your treasured possession. Every interaction they have with you must reinforce that their generosity is making a life-changing difference. The voice and cadence of asking and thanking; the clarity of how their gift will make an impact; and the compelling reason to give now must ring true through every message on every channel.