Do donors lie?

When I was a baby nonprofit fundraiser - I remember giving an older couple from Malibu a tour of our nonprofit's space.

I showed them the resource closet, we looked in on a class and I introduced them to some staff people. At the end of the walk-a-round, I made my pitch and they handed me a $2k check - the cost of what putting one person through the program amounted to. 

As I was saying good-bye, the wife turned to me and said, “No need to put us on a thank you list." So, I didn't.

…and…they never gave again. 💔

It was then that I learned an important lesson in fundraising: people, specifically donors, lie all the time. 

Another example of this is when donors say they only like to give “one-time” a year. While, yes - this may be true for some very large major donors - the data actually says that it's a donor who makes a second gift within the first 30 days who is more likely to retain. 

That's exactly why I built this 7-part email sequence for those specific newbie donors because how to you bring someone into to your organization matters. 

So, as you are coming off of your fruitful end-of-year giving season with I'm sure LOTS of brand new donors - now is the time to put in the work that will keep them coming back again and again. 

We want them to become raving fans 👏 not one-hit-wonders.