What to do with $100 donors

Take a look at your donor gift levels. Do you have clusters of gifts around the $100 mark, the $250 mark, or the $500 mark? Where these cluster occur, notice how many of the names you know personally. What do you know about them? Do you know why they give to you? This is where your focus should be now - on the relationships you already have.

Choose a cluster and identify the people who have given 3 years or more consecutively. Why have they given to you for these years? Obviously, there is something that is attracting them to you and if you can find out what that is, then you're closer to your next gift. Do they know the founder? Do they know someone on the board who speaks highly of the work? Is it a staffer? Maybe they know someone who benefitted from your services. Finding that out may mean a visit - maybe several visits. Maybe it's a coffee or maybe you meet them at an event. You may find out right away and it may take several visits. Is there a board member who will help?

This is how you attract givers to maintain and increase their giving. By getting to know them, and learning what matters to them, you'll be better equipped to communicate the work of yiour nonprofit in terms they value.

If you have a lot of names in those clusters, you can get creative with how you contact them since you can only drink so much coffee in a day. Read the article, "Launching your 44 cent cultivation plan" listed on my Free Resources page of my website: www.jeancraiglong.com for hints about low-cost ways to make memorable connections with donors.

If you start this week, and set aside 2 hours on Friday to call people who have written checks in the past, thank them, update them on activities, you're taking a development step in the right direction. Can you ask some board members to take some names? Gratitude is an attractor and this is the time to connect as much as you can with those people who already know and care about your work.