Spotting your supporters’ potential

Zoefeat

So much to do, so little time

As we’re sure you’ll all agree, time is something we have little of in the charity sector. We have all these fantastic supporters who want to do incredible stuff for us, but with limited resources, how do we identify where our time is best spent?

At Anthony Nolan, we know that we have supporters who have huge potential, and by identifying them early on, giving them tailored support, and building great relationships with them, we can add value and help them surpass their goals.

Spotting the potential

It’s a great idea on paper, but how do we actually decide who we should spend that extra bit of quality time on? What’s worked for us starts with a great conversation. We spend time early on talking about what their motivation is, what their fundraising goals are, who they have in their networks, and other key factors that we think show their potential.

From this we’re able to determine if they are a key supporter, and if investing more time will help them maximise their potential with Anthony Nolan.  

Putting the cherries on top

We all love cake, but what elevates our key supporters stewardship journeys are the extra touches (cherries).

Whilst we pride ourselves on giving great support to all of our fundraisers, we plan out more bespoke and tailored journeys for key supporters, and add ‘wow’ moments – those extra bits they’re not expecting but engage and motivate them further with the cause, and make them feel valued.

This might mean meeting up for a coffee to chat about their goals, attending their fundraisers, inviting them to special events, or it could be as simple as talking to them via twitter if that’s what they prefer.

There’s no set formula for what makes a bespoke stewardship journey. With every supporter being unique it’s our job as fundraisers to adapt to their style.

And just in case you’re wondering, as a rule of thumb, our Community Team try and spend 80% of their time with their top 20% key supporters.

So in summary

The proof of the pudding is in the bottom line figures. Over the last 4 years, this approach has grown Community income by over 500% net. Not only that, with a caseload of 2,000, the top 50 will be responsible for raising half this income.

This approach is also working wonders in the Events Team, with 10% of our 2016 London Marathon Team raising over £5,000 (in case you’re wondering our highest fundraiser raised £15,000), and 20% raising £3,000 – £5,000.

Hopefully this all shows the value of your key supporters.

It’s sometimes difficult to change your approach, but we’ve found that by prioritising your key supporters and the time you spend with them, it can dramatically increase funds coming into your charity, and enhance the experience your supporters have. At the end of the day isn’t that what we’re all trying to do?

We’d love your feedback! Let us know your thoughts on Twitter @jadebrent & @lawriemallyon

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