Every prospect is unique, and must be engaged with a thoughtful understanding of their donor persona, preferences and concerns. In this training series, we will develop skill sets in external-facing roles (gift officers, engagement officers, events staff, academic and administrative partners) to make donor interaction meaningful and a tool for moving relationships forward.
By combining theory, immediately-actional practical advice, and hands-on exercises to reinforce skillset development, this series of three trainings positions every team member to support stronger donor strategies and fundraising success.
Gift Officer Training Series
Session 1: Understanding Donor Personas 90 minutes
Every donor requires a unique, thoughtful approach to complement their personal style. By understanding the basic donor personas, team members have a strong foundation from which to build unique, impactful relationships. We will discuss the donor personas, and then explore strategies that support engagement and buy-in for each type. Attendees are then provided a take-home exercise about persona strategy, to be completed after session one and discussed in session two.
Session 2: Donor Relations
Donors are increasingly choosing to vary the organizations they support, rather than donating to the same causes annually. This donor turnover is costly, and one organization estimates that the cost to acquire a new donor is seven times the cost to retain an existing one. Compounding this issue is the fact the average frontline
fundraisers transitions to a new role every 18-24 months. By engaging the entire institution in donor relations, especially frontline fundraisers who should have the strongest relationships with top donors, your shop can improve donor retention and increase dollars raised. This session will provide advice, examples, and proactive strategies for integrating sound donor relations practices throughout the entire donor cycle, including a more donor-centered approach to fundraising.
Session 3: The Importance of Service Recovery 90 minutes
One frequently-overlooked pool of strong prospects is past donors whose relationships with the organizations have weakened. So often, these fractured relationships are due to poor stewardship of past generosity – but once recovered, these same relationships can result in exceptional generosity. KDD Philanthropy is pleased to offer a training session that provides tips on avoiding these fractures in the first place, and then delves into tools for meaningful relationship recovery. Combining real-life examples, concrete tools, and interactive exercises to build out this skill set, this training will position your team to effectively re-engage unhappy donors and move them into further giving.
*It is recommended that these trainings are offered two–four weeks apart, in order to allow gift officers time to practice and reinforce the skills they build.
Please reach out to discuss how to bring our virtual coaching and trainings to your shop. We welcome the opportunity to have a conversation!