On my morning walk, I found myself thinking about yesterday’s blog post about lapsed donors and thinking about it in the context of my BFF from junior high school.
My friend, Pete, and I met in the sixth grade and immediately became BFFs. We grew up together. We stood up at each other’s weddings. We were great friends until I had a falling out with his wife shortly after I came out of the closet. We haven’t spoken in about 10 years. As I reflected on my personal situation, it dawned on me that there might be some lessons to draw from with regards to dealing with lapsed donors. If I were to attempt to reclaim this damaged relationship, I might consider any of the following strategies:
- sending a card or letter to break the ice
- making a phone call
- inviting him out for a cup of coffee
- finding a mutual friend to bring us together
Once the ice is broken, then we probably have lots and lots to catch-up on. Wouldn’t these strategies also work with lapsed donors?
I see many of my non-profit friends struggling with donor retention, and I just don’t think it needs to be that difficult. If we just treated many of our donors the same way we treat our BFFs, then we’d live in a donor-centered universe with donor loyalty rates much higher than 50%.
Any thoughts on what treating a donor as your BFF might looking like? Please weigh-in and share!
Here is to your health! ~Erik