We all know how important it is to secure that initial meeting with a prospective donor. It’s starting from scratch. Crafting a relationship with a donor that leads to success for both sides can’t begin without cutting through the noise and landing the initial connection.
For many frontline fundraisers, working your way down an amorphous list can seem daunting or even unproductive at times. Try an email…and get no response. Try another. Question whether you should call it a loss or email again later. Sound familiar?
The problem with this approach is that it lacks urgency and structure; two elements we believe greatly boost your response rate.
So how do you introduce more urgency and structure into your outreach routine?
Small Batches Principle.
The concept of breaking work into smaller series of high efficiency exists across other industries from data processing to project management to lean manufacturing. While investing in a donor relationship is a great deal more human and nuanced than manufacturing parts, the core concept can still improve the donor outreach process.
Our Fundraising Batch Approach
The first step is creating your initial segment. Identify a group of prospects within your portfolio that you want to prioritize. The exact number isn’t as important as just creating a tangible group to start. (You’ll repeat this process, so you can work down your priority list).
For instance, start with 10 prospects over a 10 day period. Work exclusively on these 10 prospects during this time period. By making this finite in terms of time and quantity, you will add precision and focus to your approach.
- Day 1: Email or call all 10 prospects. Maybe only 1-2 individuals respond and 8 don’t.
- Day 4: Reach out to all 8 non-respondents again.
- Day 7: Try to connect with remaining non-respondents in a new way (ie. if you called first, email or vice versa).
- Day 10: Email/call a final time.
- If anyone doesn’t respond to any of these efforts, save those priority prospects to try once more in a later batch. Timing is everything.
Your first segment is complete. You maximized a specific window of time and committed to a consistent schedule of outreach. By imposing your own time limits, you create your own urgency—which naturally finds its way into your tone and approach. While self-induced, this sense of urgency can also translate into the prospective donor feeling the importance of your outreach.
When the 10 days are up, just rinse and repeat with a new batch. If you consistently repeat this strategy over time, you will quickly and efficiently work through your entire portfolio.
We’ve found over and over again in coaching frontline fundraisers that this fundamental principle transforms random pings into focused outreach—resulting in better outcomes. If you compare against your prior efforts, chances are great that you’ve improved your response rate.
Try it out and let us know the difference it makes in your fundraising approach.
